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POPULAR AND AUTHENTIC 






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LI FES 



OF 



ULYSSES S. GRANT 



AND 



SCHUYLER COLFAX. 



BY 



EDWARD D. MANSFIELD. 













CINCINNA TI: 

R. W. CARROLL & CO., PUBLISHERS, 

117 WEST FOURTH-STREET. 
1868. 









Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S68, 
BY R. W. CARROLL & CO., 

In die Clerk's Office of the District Court of Ihe United States for the 
Southern District of Ohio. 



TO THE 



^EOPLE OF THE JNITED STATES 



United S' 

l Ccbicat* tfcis Folunu, 



WHICIl RECORDS TIT/: 8ERVICEB OF A MAX WHO IS OXE OF THEMSELVES, 

PATRIOTIC IN PURPOSE; 

OBEDIENT TO LAW; FAITHFUL TO THE GOVERNMENT; 

INDUSTRIOUS IN PEACE, AND SUCCESSFUL 

IN WAR. 

ED W. D. MANSFIELD. 
Morrow, O., May 13, 1868. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PASS 

ANCESTRY — PARENTAGE — BIRTH — SCHOOL-BOY DAYS — OCCUPA- 
TION — HORSEMANSHIP — AT WEST POINT — DESCRIPTION BY A 
COMRADE. 17 

CHAPTER II. 

GRADUATES AT WEST POINT — IN THE FOURTH REGIMENT — ITS HIS- 
TORY — GOES TO MEXICO — IS IN THE BATTLES OF PALO ALTO, 
MONTEREY, CERRO GORDO, CHERUB USCO — IS TWICE PROMOTED— 
RESIGNS — BECOMES FARMER, BROKER, AND LEATHER-DEALER. 33 

CHAPTER III. 

GRAND UPRISING — THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS LAUGHS — THE PEO- 
PLE ANSWER — LINCOLN'S PROCLAMATION — GRANT AT GALENA — 
VOLUNTEERS — APPOINTED COLONEL OF THE TWENTY-FIRST ILLI- 
NOIS — COMMANDS AT CAIRO — ATTACKS BELMONT — GRAND RE- 
CONNOISSANCE — STRATEGIC LINE OF REBEL DEFENSE — FORT 
HENRY — ITS CAPTURE AND RESULTS. ..... 48 

CHAPTER IV. 

DONELSON. 

"ALL IS QUIET ALONG THE POTOMAC" — THE SECOND UPRISING 

THE PREPARATION — INVESTMENT OF DONELSON — STRENGTH OF 



CONTENTS. 

PAGB 
THE FORT — REBEL ASSAULT — SMITH'S STORM AND CAPTURE OF 
THE REBEL INTRENCHMENTS — GRANT PROPOSES TO MOVE IMME- 
DIATELY ON THEIR WORKS — BUCKNER'S SURRENDER — GRAND 
RESULTS — STRATEGY — BATTLE HYMN — SANITARY COMMISSION. 77 



CHAPTER V. 

SHILOH. 

THE AMERICAN VOLUNTEER — ATTEMPT TO CENSURE GRANT — ITS 
FAILURE, AND HIS PROMOTION — PREPARATIONS AT PITTSBURG 
LANDING — BATTLE OF SHILOH — A GREAT VICTORY — MILITARY 
CRITICS — GRANT VINDICATED — THE OBJECT OF THE BATTLE — 
AND THE RESULTS IO5 

CHAPTER VI. 

HALLECK TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMY — GRANT A SUBORDINATE — 
SHERMAN'S RECONNOISSANCE — GRANT PUT IN THE SHADE — LIN- 
COLN'S SUPPORT — HALLECK GETS TO CORINTH AND INTRENCHES — 
CORINTH EVACUATED — THE NEW STRATEGIC LINE — BEAUREGARD 
DISCOVERS CHATTANOOGA, AND HALLECK SEES IT TOO — THE 
ARMY IS SCATTERED, AND HALLECK DEPARTS — GRANT AGAIN IN 
COMMAND — BATTLE OF IUKA — BATTLE OF CORINTH — SANITARY 
COMMISSION— CHRISTIAN WOMEN 139 

CHAPTER VII. 

VICKSBURG. 

LINCOLN'S ORDER TO McCLERNAND — GRANT'S BOLD PROPOSITION TO 
HALLECK — HIS ADMINISTRATIVE ABILITY — HIS MARCH ON HOLLY 
SPRINGS AND OXFORD — HIS FAILURE — SHERMAN ASSAULTS VICKS- 
BURG, AND FAILS — TROOPS WITHDRAWN, AND NEW PLAN OF 
ACTION — GRAND ARMY ASSEMBLES AT YOUNG'S POINT — DIGS 
CANALS — TRIES THE YAZOO — THE MISSISSIPPI CONQUERS THE 
CANAL, AND THE ARMY WAIT3 FOR NEW MOVEMENTS. . . 1 62 



CONTENTS. 7 

CHAPTER VIII. 

VICKSBURG. 

PAGB 
THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO GENERAL PLAN — GRANT MAKES A PLAN 
FOR HIMSELF — ACTS CONTRARY TO THE ADVICE OF HIS GENERALS, 
AND TAKES THE RESPONSIBILITY — ARMY MOVES TO NEW CAR- 
THAGE — MIDNIGHT PASSAGE OF THE GUN-BOATS — ARMY CROSSES 
THE MISSISSIPPI — BATTLE OF PORT GIBSON — FALL OF GRAND 
GULF — BATTLES OF RAYMOND, OF JACKSON, OF CHAMPION'S HILL, 
AND OF BIG BLACK — GRANT'S MILITARY GENIUS — REBEL ER- 
RORS — VICKSBURG INVESTED — INEFFICIENCY OF JOHNSTON — SUR- 
RENDER OF VICKSBURG . l8l 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE PREPARATION. 

GRANT ORDERS SHERMAN TO ADVANCE — JACKSON RETAKEN, AND 
THE CAMPAIGN ENDED— GRANT IS OPPOSED TO TRADE ON THE 
LINES — PROTECTS NEGRO SOLDIERS — WANTS TO MOVE ON MO- 
BILE — FAILURE OF THE POTOMAC CAMPAIGNS AND SUCCESS OF 
ROSECRANS — GOVERNMENT FAILS TO REENFORCE HIM — LIN- 
COLN'S PROCLAMATION AND ITS MORAL EFFECT. . . • 2l6 

CHAPTER X. 

CHATTANOOGA. 

THE SWITZERLAND OF AMERICA — THE SUCK OF THE TENNESSEE — 
CHATTANOOGA — GRANT TAKES COMMAND — BRAGG BOASTS — 
ROSECRANS'S PREPARATIONS — HOOKER MOVES ON LOOKOUT — 
ROADS SAFE — BRAGG DETACHES LONGSTREET — GRANT MAKES 
ALL ARRANGEMENTS — SENDS ORDER TO BURNSIDE — BATTLE 
ABOVE THE CLOUDS — HOOKER STORMS LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN — 
SHERMAN ATTACKS MISSIONARY- RIDGE — THOMAS BREAKS THE 
ENEMY'S CENTER — GREAT VICTORY — SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE — 
CAMPAIGN ENDED ' 23I 



8 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XI. 

PREPARATION. 

FAGS 

GRANT'S PERSONAL CONDUCT — HIS PRESENCE IN BATTLE — REJOIC- 
INGS OF THE PEOPLE — HONORS TO GRANT — DINNER AT ST. 
LOUIS — HIS CIGAR-CASE — PLANS FOR THE FUTURE — SHERMAN'S 
RAID ON MERIDIAN — RESULTS — AN INCIDENT — REBEL BOATS — 
GRANT MADE LIEUTENANT-GENERAL — GIVEN COMMAND OF ALL 
FORCES — TAKES COMMAND, AND MAKES A NEW PLAN. . . 2$8 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE WILDERNESS. 

THE GENERAL PLAN OF THE CAMPAIGN — ORGANIZATION OF THE 
GRAND ARMY — LEE'S POSITION — HUNDRED DAYS' MEN — OFFER 
OF THE GOVERNORS — MEADE'S ADDRESS — GRAND ARMY CROSSES 
THE RAPIDAN — THE WILDERNESS — LINE OF BATTLE — TWO 
DAYS' FIGHT IN THE WILDERNESS — LEE'S DISPATCHES — CAN 
NOT SUCCEED, AND MARCHES BY THE RIGHT FLANK— GRANT'S 
GENERALSHIP — HIS POSITION IN THE BATTLE, . . .273 

CHAPTER XIII. 

ON TO RICHMOND. 

"ON TO RICHMOND" — OUT OF THE WILDERNESS — BATTLE OF 
SPOTTSYLVANIA — "i PROPOSE TO FIGHT IT OUT ON THIS LINE, 
IF IT TAKES ALL SUMMER" — AT NORTH ANNA — CROSSING THE 
PAMUNKEY — BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR — CROSSING THE JAMES — 
RAIDS — THE ARMY RESTS 294 

CHAPTER XIV. 

CLOSE OF THE WAR. 

THE PETERSBURG MINE — GRANT'S LETTER ON THE REBELS — 
TAKES THE WELDON RAILROAD — SENDS SHERIDAN AFTER 



CONTENTS. 9 

PAGB 
EARLY — BATTLE OF WINCHESTER, OF FISHER'S HILL, AND OF 

MIDDLETOWN — EARLY'S FORCES DESTROYED — HOOD GOES TO 
NASHVILLE AND SHERMAN GOES TO SAVANNAH — SHERMAN'S 
CHRISTMAS PRESENT — MOBILE AND WILMINGTON TAKEN — SHER- 
MAN MARCHES TO RALEIGH — STORM OF PETERSBURG BATTLE 

OF FIVE FORKS — SURRENDER OF LEE — SURRENDER OF JOHN- 
STON — GRAND REVIEW AT WASHINGTON. . . . . 307 

CHAPTER XV. 

GRANT IN PEACE. 

CRITICISMS ON GRANT — THEIR ERRORS — LOSSES IN THE CAMPAIGNS 
BEFORE RICHMOND — HIS EDUCATION — HIS ADMINISTRATIVE 
ABILITY — HIS INTEGRITY — HIS MORAL QUALITIES — ANECDOTES 
OF HIM — DISBANDMENT AND REORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY. 34O 

CHAPTER XVI. 

GRANT IN POLITICS. 

POLITICAL QUESTIONS OF THE DAY — WHAT THEY ARE — GRANT'S 
PUBLIC CONDUCT IN THEM — HIS VIEWS ON THE GREAT ISSUES — 
ON CONGRESS AND THE PUBLIC — HIS ADMINISTRATIVE ABILI- 
TIES — VIEWS OF THE FATHERS ON THE PRESIDENCY — CORRE- 
SPONDENCE WITH THE PRESIDENT. ...... 354 



CONTENTS 



LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 



CHAPTER I. 

BORN IN NEW YORK — GOES TO SCHOOL — IS CLERK — GOES TO INDI- 
ANA — DEPUTY AUDITOR — REPORTER OF THE SENATE — EDITOR OF 

st. Joseph's register — whig in politics — ADorrs the anti- 
slavery DOCTRINES — ELECTED TO CONGRESS — SPEAKS AGAINST 
THE NEBRASKA BILL — REELECTED. 3 S3 

CHAPTER II. 

COLFAX ELECTED SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE — HIS ADDRESS TO THE 
THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS — HIS PUBLIC CHARACTER — HIS LEC- 
TURES — HIS RELIGIOUS CHARACTER— HIS NOMINATION AS VICE- 
PRESIDENT — CHICAGO PLATFORM — LETTERS OF GRANT AND COLFAX 
ACCEPTING THE NOMINATION — POLITICAL ISSUES OF THE DAY. 402 



INTRODUCTION. 



NATIONS grow great by their conflicts. Trials 
are necessary to their success, movement to 
their growth, and the opposition of forces to direct 
them into those regular and harmonious orbits by 
which they are henceforth to move grandly on in their 
predestined course. The American nation is no ex- 
ception to this law. We have just finished the third 
grand conflict of our nation. The first was the War 
of Independence, in which a few small colonies 
struggled for a separate existence, and won it by 
blood and suffering. The next was the Second War 
of Independence — the War of 1 8 12-15 — f° r sucn it- 
was. Not till the Peace of 181 5 was our flag re- 
spected, our commerce safe upon the ocean, and our 
frontier protected from the Indians. The third was 
the War for Unity. We call it the War of the 
Rebellion ; but the one prominent idea on every 
flag and in every heart was the American Union. 
It was the greatest of the conflicts, because as no 
trial of the individual is so great as that carried on 
in his own soul, so no conflict of a nation is so great 
and terrible as that in which its social forces are 



1 2 INTR OD UC TION. 

arrayed against one another, giving a shock to the 
whole political system, and threatening its final dis- 
solution. Such was our War for Unity, such its 
mighty conflict, and such the danger encountered. 
The triumph of unity is the triumph of the American 
nation in the last great struggle necessary to harmo- 
nize its social forces, and make this country the domi- 
nant power upon earth. 

In any picture which can be possibly made of 
this great conflict, two figures will ever be prominent 
on the scene. Turn that picture as you may, like 
it or dislike it, think what you will of it, Lincoln 
and Grant will ever be looking straight at you. 
One was a statesman, who, calm, quiet, simple, guided 
as if by the very hand of Providence the civil forces 
through untried dangers and unheard-of calamities to 
a safe deliverance. The other was a soldier, as plain 
and simple, leading the embattled armies of the 
Republic through multiplied trials, through flowing 
blood, through defeats and victories, through gloom 
and glory, to the achievement of a last and a glorious 
success. Lincoln is gone, his work done, his glory 
complete. History preserves his name among the 
few nobly great. But Grant remains to complete 
the drama of the great conflict. Something is yet 
to be done. The last scenes of the last act have 
not passed away. Grant is still on the stage, and in 
these last scenes he is the principal figure. 

Grant belongs wholly to this generation. He came 
on the stage after both the wars of independence. 
He is, in some degree, a type of these times, and has 
only now become historical. For this reason, as well 



INTR OD UC TIOJV. 1 3 

as on account of the momentous events now occur- 
ring, I propose to tell simply, briefly, but accurately, 
the story of Grant's active life, but especially of that 
martial life in which he has embodied the true genius 
and character of the American soldier. It is not 
necessary that we should go through multiplied de- 
tails, enter upon military criticisms or political dis- 
cussions ; nor is it necessary that we should try to 
make Grant any thing more than he is. I shall en- 
deavor simply to give the plain story of what he is 
and what he has done. This is enough. In doing 
it I shall be obliged, even if I were not glad, to 
bring out upon the canvas that noblest character in 
this historical drama, the American Volunteer, and 
to show not a little of what the American Woman 
hr.s done as she went forth a ministering angel to the 
sick, the wounded, and the dying. • It is all part of 
the same story. It all concenters round the com- 
mander of the American army. Then the story will 
lead us as we follow Grant in the grand march 
from Cairo to Richmond — for such it was — by 
Belmont's repulse to Donelson's glorious victory ; by 
the bayous of the Mississippi and the marshes of 
the Yazoo to Grand Gulf; by the Big Black to the 
battles and surrender of Vicksburg — to the bloody 
Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge — to the Rapidan 
and the battles of the Wilderness — to Spottsylvania 
and the Chickahominy ; by the bloody field of Cold 
Harbor ; by the James — to the storm of Petersburg, 
and the surrender at Appomattox Court-House. Such 
a march as this — such a series of vivid scenes, of 
bloody battle-fields, of extraordinary events — in the 



1. 1 1XTRODVCTION. 

same space of time — has never been recorded in 
modern history. The march of Grant from Cairo to 
Richmond is without a parallel. To picture it forth, 
not in the visions of fancy, but in the soberest and 
truest colors of history, will require all the abilities 
of the most accomplished historian. I propose only 
to tell the story of that drama in such simple lan- 
guage and in such outline sketches as will give the 
reader a clear idea of what was done without being 
confused by terms and details not generally under- 
stood. I write for the common reader an account 
of great events, which is true, reliable, accurate, and 
to which he may refer for much of the history of 
these times. Fortunately for the truth of history in 
our day, the press records every thing. Every fact, 
every man, every plan, every movement, every opin- 
ion and event of our last great conflict are embodied 
by the press and perpetuated for the use of the his- 
torian. With such materials we may be dull, but we 
must be true. I shall avail myself of all these mate- 
rials ; and however brief I may be, or however in- 
adequate the life of any one man is to represent the 
acts and movements of a great people, yet, so far as 
I take the scenes of that movement, and so far as I 
represent them, I shall make the picture true and 
faithful. My part is humble, and the story but one 
chapter in history, but it shall be just and accurate. 

EWD. D. MANSFIELD. 
Cincinnati, 1868. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



LIFE 



OF 



GENERAL GRANT. 



CHAPTER I. 

ANCESTRY — PARENTAGE — BIRTH — SCHOOL-BOY DAYS — OCCUPA- 
TION — HORSEMANSHIP — AT WEST POINT — DESCRIPTION BY 
A COMRADE. 

THE life of an eminent public man is a page in 
his country's history. God has so made us, that 
no man lives only to himself. We are interwoven one 
with another. We are particles in a great whole — 
units in immense numbers ; but not particles without 
cohesion, nor units without magnitude. Do what we 
will, whether small or great, we do make part of the 
public body ; we have an influence, whether we choose 
or not, and can not get rid of it. But, if one of us 
comes to be a leader ; to be commander of an army ; 
to be chief magistrate of the Republic ; to be eminent 
in science, or, to be illustrious in letters — that makes 
us, not a small, but a large particle in the body-politic ; 
not of slight, but of immense influence in directing 
events, in forming opinions, and in shaping the course 

2 17 



1 8 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

of affairs. Such is the position of General Ulysses S. 
Grant. It matters not whether we think his fame and 
success are the sole result of unprecedented merit or 
not — it is enough that he has them ; it is enough that 
Divine Providence, which overrules all human events, 
has permitted him to acquire such fame and success, 
and that he thus occupies a large space in public affairs, 
and is looked up to by multitudes as one of the prin- 
cipal leaders in one of the most powerful nations of 
the earth. This calls our attention to him, and leads 
us to trace out, as far as we can, his manner of life 
and his public career. 

Ulysses S. Grant was, as the name implies, of 
Scotch extraction. The first ancestor we hear of 
as native to this country was Noah Grant, born in 
Windsor, Hartford county, Connecticut. 1 He was a 
captain in the King's service, and killed at White 
Plains, 1756. Noah Grant, son of Captain Grant, was 
also born in Connecticut. He was a lieutenant at 
the battle of Lexington, and served through the whole 
Revolutionary war. It seems that after the war was 
ended, this Noah Grant, in 1789, emigrated from 
Connecticut to Western Pennsylvania; and we find 
that Jesse R. Grant, the father of Ulysses, was born 
in Westmoreland county, in January, 1794. 2 This 
Noah Grant was a man of education and property, 
but, we are informed by his son, died poor. In 1799 
lie took his family from Westmoreland into that part 
of Ohio now Columbiana county. Ohio was then 
part of the North-Western Territory, and it was four 

1 Jesse Grant's Letters to the New York Ledger. 

2 Idem. 



PARENTAGE. 1 9 

years before it was constituted a State. The Gran Is 
have, therefore, as we shall see hereafter, been identi- 
fied with Ohio during the whole period of its growth 
and history. In 1804 the family moved to Portage 
county, on the Western Reserve. In 18 10 Jesse R. 
Grant was apprenticed to learn the tanning business, 
at Maysville, Kentucky. After serving his appren- 
ticeship faithfully, he set up business for himself in 
Ravenna, Portage county ; but, suffering severely from 
fever and ague — always incident to a new country — 
he removed in 1820 to Point Pleasant, on the Ohio 
River, in Clermont county, and twenty-five miles above 
Cincinnati. Here, in 1821, Jesse R. Grant married 
Hannah Simpson, and began housekeeping. Here we 
may inquire, what kind of a woman is the mother of 
General Grant? It is said that men derive their best 
qualities — certainly a large part of their character — 
from their mothers. Human history presents few 
eminent men whose mothers have not been remarka- 
ble for some good or bad qualities. Of Mrs. Hannah 
Grant it is not proper to say, nor do we know, more 
than her husband has said of her ; but this is clear 
and direct. Mr. J. R. Grant says of her : J "At the 
time of our marriage, Mrs. Grant was an unpretend- 
ing country girl ; handsome, but not vain. She had 
previously joined the Methodist Church ; and I can 
truthfully say that it has never had a more devoted 
and consistent member. Her steadiness, firmness, and 
strength of character have been the stay of the family 
through life." 

The lineage of Grant is thus traced up to ancestors, 

1 New York Ledger, March 7, 1S6S. 



20 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

whose descendant, we may reasonably infer from our 
knowledge of human nature, might be such a man as 
he is. Of Scotch extraction, of New England char- 
acter, of Western enterprise, of moderate education, 
of thrifty habits — for they all seem to have prospered — 
Grant's ancestors were a sort of people likely to have 
careful, prudent, industrious, and, with moderate luck, 
successful descendants. When to this we add the 
Christian character of his mother, I know not whether 
Grant could have been born under better auspices in 
this republican country, where men are valued more 
for what they are, than for the nobility of their birth, 
or the splendor of their fortune. Born under such 
auspices, he was not likely to be a man of genius ; 
but was almost certain to be a man of common-sense, 
of patriotic purpose, and of prudent conduct. 

It was in Ohio, then, that Grant was born ; in a 
simple, frame house, on the banks of that beautiful 
river, whose waters roll through the richest land on 
earth, and whose valley is now filled with free, ener- 
getic, and intelligent people ; and whose youth are 
brought up in the love of republican institutions. Here 
universal freedom began ; for here the Ordinance of 
1787 had proclaimed that no slavery should endure; 
and that Ordinance is flowing over other States and 
other lands, like the widening circles in the water, till 
it shall fill the earth with the rejoicings of emancipated 
nations. Here was the cradle of Grant. Here he 
looked out upon a new world, which his New England 
ancestors, who lived amid the conflicts of the Revo- 
lution, had not dreamed of. They little knew what 
the war of Independence had done, and they lived not 



FONDNESS FOR HORSES. 21 

to see the mighty growth of empire in the Western 
valleys. But here their descendant grew up with it, 
and became a leader in other and greater conflicts. 

Ulysses S. Grant was born on the 27th of April, 
1822, and his boyhood was passed at Point Pleasant 
and at Georgetown, Brown county, to which his father 
removed. 

At Georgetown, and at a very early age, was 
exhibited that remarkable love of horses which he 
seems to have retained. Most boys are fond of horses, 
but Grant not only loved them, but had a talent for 
them. His father tells some stories of him, some of 
which are quite striking. At seven and a half years 
of age he first began to manage a horse alone, and 
then in a very daring manner. While his father 
was gone for the day, Master Ulysses hitched up a 
colt which had never been harnessed, managed to 
get him tackled in a sled, and employed him all 
day drawing brush, till he had collected a large pile. 
Many stories are told about his horsemanship, all of 
which prove that he was a ready and bold horse- 
man while quite young. Beginning at five years of 
age, he preferred standing to sitting on the horses, 
and at nine was so accomplished an equestrian that 
he rode his horse at full speed, standing on one foot 
and balancing himself with the reins. He broke his 
own horses, had the knack of teaching any horse to 
pace, and while a small boy became a regular team- 
driver. As might be expected, he was fond of cir- 
cuses, and on one occasion seems to have beat the 
ring-master, the horse and a monkey, who had entered 
into a conspiracy to have him thrown. He was the 



22 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

boy who volunteered to ride pony round the ring; 
the ring-master cracked his whip, the horse tried to 
throw him, the monkey jumped up behind, and finally 
on his shoulders, but all in vain. The conspirators 
had to give it up. Indeed, had they known that this 
boy delighted in riding with the bridle in his mouth, 
standing on one foot, down a rough hill, they would 
not have made so useless an attempt. At this period 
of his life his father does not represent him as, in 
other respects, very different from other boys, nor is 
his love of horsemanship remarkable, except in one 
thing, which has continued to characterize him : this 
is perfect self-possession and unmoved nerve. Look- 
ing forward to the possibilities of such a boy, we find 
him already possessed of some qualities very neces- 
sary to a great soldier — good horsemanship, physical 
courage, and self-possession. There are men of great 
genius in the world, and of great eminence and com- 
mand, who have neither one of these qualities, and 
yet who have as much merit in their several walks 
as any of the great soldiers. 

In describing him in his boyhood his father, who 
is the best witness, portrays him as being very much 
what we should suppose the germ of such a man 
would be. He says : 

" He never seemed inclined to put himself forward 
at all, and was modest, retiring, and reticent, as he is 
now; but he never appeared to have any distrust of 
himself, or any misgiving about his ability to do any 
thing which could be expected of a boy of his size 
and age. Self-possession was always one of his lead- 
ing characteristics." In addition to this his father 



DISLIKE OF THE TAN-TARD. 2$ 

says he was industrious, but detested the tannery ! 
He would rather do any thing else under the sun than 
work in the tannery. So great was his dislike to 
that occupation that when told to go into the tan- 
yard he went to the village instead, got a job to do, 
and hired another boy to take his place. Perhaps for 
this a philosopher might give a natural reason — Grant 
was the friend of horses, and horses dislike tan-yards, 
and so Grant sympathized with his friends ! Perhaps, 
another would say, this was an instinctive feeling that 
he was to rise above merely mechanical work, and 
certainly the business of a tan-yard requires no great 
activity of mind, and promised little to lead forth the 
spirit, or satisfy ambition. It is common to try to 
popularize a man by giving him a nickname derived 
from an early and laborious employment, such as the 
" wagon-boy," and the "tan-boy;" but this does wrong 
both to the fathers and the sons. These occupations 
are honest and honorable, but they are certainly not 
very intellectual, or leading to any very noble results. 
Mr. Corwin would not have been a "wagon-boy," or 
General Grant a "tan-boy," if he could have helped 
it. The avoidance of the tan-yard in a boy who was 
otherwise industrious, was really, although it might 
be unknown to himself, a latent ambition to be 
something else. But, after all, Grant's boyhood was 
nothing wonderful, and the only points about it, as 
described by his father, worthy of our special notice 
are those I have mentioned — horsemanship, physical 
courage, self-possession, and avoidance of the tan- 
nery. A story is told of a phrenologist who came 
along and pronounced his head no common affair, 



24 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

and said it would not be strange to see him President 
of the United States ! But as every phrenologist I 
ever heard of does the same thing for every head he 
examines, and especially if it be a boy's, this can 
not be deemed very remarkable. In fact, Grant's 
boyhood passed away without any wonderful occur- 
rence, without any precocious genius, and without any 
great performance, except that of rivaling the circus- 
rider in horsemanship. Two characteristics, however, 
came out, which indicated the coming man. The first 
is, that he had the qualities I have mentioned ; the 
second is, that he had no vices. His mother watched 
him with great care, and his father says that he never 
had the habit of swearing, either as boy or man, 1 and 
that he was not addicted to any pleasure, except horse- 
manship and playing marbles. At twelve years of 
age, then, we find Ulysses Grant a very respectable 
boy, with some qualities which are necessary to make 
a good soldier, and none which would retard his suc- 
cess if fortune should be favorable. 

I come now to his education. This sometimes 
counteracts the natural bent and talent of youth ; 
sometimes falls in with them, so as to give them 
greater force and elasticity. In Grant's case, his early 
life seems to have favored and strengthened his natu- 
ral character ; his bent was evidently for the exterior 
world, and for the management of exterior forces ; and 
his education being mainly military, and his studies 
of the physical sciences, they prepared him for the 
art of war, the control of men, and the perception 
of what is necessary for the development of physical 

1 Mr. Grant's Letters to the New York Ledger. 



HIS EARL T ED UCA TION. 2 5 

resources. But little account is left of what his pri- 
mary education was. What the moral and religious 
part of it was, we know from what has been said of 
his mother. A Christian mother rarely fails to im- 
press her religious ideas upon her children, and such 
a mother is no more the fountain of life than she is of 
sentiments and principles. An old gentleman, ftamed 
Barney, had the honor of being his first teacher, 
when Ulysses was only four years old. He was fond 
of school, and particularly of mathematics. The first 
book he read was the Life of Washington — I wonder 
whether it was Weems's ! Long before Grant's time, 
Weems's Life of Washington was the wonder and 
delight of boys. As a literary performance it was 
quite inferior ; but it presented Washington as a 
wonderful being, shielded from the rifle-balls of Indi- 
ans by the hand of Providence, and reared by the 
same Divine Providence to be a Heaven-directed and 
Heaven-shielded leader of the people. When I was a 
boy, I talked with veteran soldiers of the -Revolution, 
who had the same ideas, and actually believed Wash- 
ington was a Heaven-sent and Heaven-guided man. 
Was that belief false ? Is it not true that great leaders 
are sent into the world, as Moses was, to lead nations 
through trials and through difficulties to some pre- 
destined result? However that may be, Grant read 
the Life of Washington, and it may be the example 
there set before him will in some measure influence 
his future life. 

We do not know how much he acquired between 
four years of age, when he first went to school, and 
sixteen, when he must have been fitted for West Point ; 

3 



26 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

but there was time enough to attain all the rudiments 
of common knowledge, and he must have done it, in 
order to have arrived at subsequent results. 

When Grant had got along toward seventeen years 
of age, his father was short of hands, and told him 
that he would have to go into the tannery and work, 
when he again manifested his dislike to tanning ; of 
which his father says: "He came along and went to 
work, remarking, however : * Father, this tanning is 
not the kind of work I like. I '11 work at it though, 
if you wish me to, till I am one-and-twenty ; but you 
may depend upon it, I '11 never work a day at it after 
that.' I said to him : ' No, I do not want you to work 
at it now, if you do not like it, and do not mean to 
stick to it. I want you to be at work at whatever you 
like and intend to follow. Now, what do you think 
you would like?' He replied that he would like 
to be a farmer ; a dovvn-the-river trader ; or get an 
education." 

His father had no farm, and would not let him go 
down the river ; so he said : " How would you like 
West Point ?" He replied, " First-rate." Thomas 
Morris was then Senator from Ohio, living in Cler- 
mont county, and Mr. Grant applied to him, asking 
him whether there was any vacancy. It happened 
there was a vacancy in that district, in the con- 
trol of the late Thomas L. Hamer, at that time 
representing the district in Congress. Application 
was made to him, and he had young Grant appointed 
a cadet, on the last day of his Congressional service. 
It happened that Hamer and Grant were both subse- 
quently in the Mexican war, and Hamer being taken 



WEST POINT. 27 

sick, Grant had the melancholy satisfaction of at- 
tending him in the last hours of his life. 

We are now to follow the young Grant to West 
Point, one of the few classic scenes in our country, 
not made classic by any studies pertaining to ancient 
learning, but by events, and scenes, and preparations 
memorable in our country's history. Here the Hudson 
River, mainly a tide-water arm of the sea, seems to 
the spectator to have broken through a rocky range 
of mountains. From Newburg Bay, where the river 
spreads out into almost a lake, to Stony Point, where 
it again spreads into another bay, a distance of nearly 
twenty miles, the river seems to be hemmed in by 
frowning, rocky. barriers of precipitous hills. In the 
midst of these, jutting out from the Western side, 
on a grassy plain, commanding the view both up and 
down, stands West Point. Every crag above is mem- 
orable ; for all around the soldiers of the Revolution 
camped in the woods, lit their watch-fires, and built 
their beacons on the mountain summits. On the 
Bay of Newburg, above, is " Washington's Head- 
Quarters ;" and just below us on the water side is 
" Washington's Valley ;" and high on ' the eastern 
side is " Beacon Hill ;" and there are bold " BuH's- 
Head," and "Crow-Nest," and "Butter Hill," and 
" Sugar-Loaf," rising up on every side, and looking 
down upon those glassy waters, as if to " sentinel 
enchanted land." Above the plain of West Point, and 
commanding it, is "Old Fort Put," gray and over- 
grown, in ruins. Its massy walls yet remain, while 
the cedar and the wild rose grow in its crevices. 
Below it, on various points, and mostly hid by the 



28 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

cedars, are the remains of thirteen different forts and 
batteries erected in the Revolution. On the sides of 
the plain are monuments to the glorious dead who 
were specially associated with West Point. Among 
these was Kosciusko, the Polish hero, who was at 
one time employed as an engineer here, and of whom 
Campbell wrote — 

" Hope, for a season, bade the world farewell, 
And Freedom shrieked — as Kosciusko fell." 

Here, too, are the monuments of the heroic Wood 
and the gallant Dade, among the noblest eleves of the 
Academy. On the green turf, under the elms, you 
may look upon many a cannon, taken from the enemies 
of the country by land and sea. There are pieces 
taken at the surrender of Burgoyne ; from the French 
frigate LTnsurgent ; at M'Donough's victory on Lake 
Champlain ; at Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo ; from 
Chapultepec, Cherubusco, and the Gates of Mexico. 
Far above them, waving in the Northern breeze, and 
gleaming in the sun, is the starry flag of our country : 

11 Flag of the free heart's hope and home, 

By angel hands to valor given ; 
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome, 

And all thy hues were born in heaven. 
Forever float that standard sheet ! 

Where breathes the foe but falls before us, 
With Freedom's soil beneath our feet, 

And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us ?" 

It was in such a scene the poet wrote this inspiring 
stanza, and such must be the feeling of every youth 
and every patriot, as he looks from the plain of West 
Point at that beautiful flag, so surrounded by all the 
glowing memories of his country and her glory 



WEST POINT. 29 

Here, in some bright day of July, 1839, stood the 
young Grant, ready to join the Academy, and for the 
first time to look upon scenes, and to dwell amid as- 
sociations, so different from any thing to which he 
was accustomed. He was then seventeen years of 
age, a time very suitable to enter upon a military ed- 
ucation. His early education must have been good, 
for he found no difficulty in passing the examination, 
which often proves a stumbling-block, even to young 
men of good abilities. On his entering West Point, 
he had a little experience in what I believe is called 
"hazing," but which is in fact a very silly practice 
of plaguing the young cadets by tricks and imposi- 
tions. Some one assumed the uniform and authority 
of a police officer, and entering his room at bed- 
time, ordered him to get certain lessons, and perform 
certain things, which would have taken him all night ; 
to which he replied, " All right," turned over and 
went to sleep. This was simply another example 
of self-possession, for want of which many youth 
suffer a great deal. 

Grant's career at West Point was simply that of 
any one of its two thousand graduates. The system 
of the Military Academy is uniform, divided into a 
routine of duties and performances, which are repeated 
from day to day, and year to year, with little varia- 
tion. This routine embraces substantially but three 
great branches : the exterior military exercises, which 
are sufficient in time and extent to give that strength 
and development of body, which civil institutions 
endeavor to supply by gymnastics, but with much 
inferior results ; next mathematics, which embraces 



30 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

mechanical philosophy, astronomy, and the applied 
sciences ; lastly, the military art, which includes draw- 
ing, French, and engineering. To these are added 
natural and ethical philosophy. The whole is enforced 
by an unyielding discipline, far more rigid than, and 
superior in its results to, any thing adopted in colleges. 
The effect of this system is that no one can graduate 
at West Point who has not an amount of instruction, 
of disciplined habits, and of bodily vigor, which fits 
him for any office in an army. It is almost the same 
system by which Napoleon was educated in the 
Polytechnique School. It is, at this time, probably 
the best school of military instruction in the world. 
A graduate may not have genius ; he may possibly 
want that moral principle necessary to a high char- 
acter, or be deficient in that vital energy necessary 
to great success ; but he must have the knowledge 
and the discipline required to fill the highest mili- 
tary offices. If, after that, he fails, it will not be for 
want of any thing which a military institution can 
give. This advantage every one who graduates has; 
and, although out of two thousand, two hundred 
graduates, some have undoubtedly failed in the after 
struggles of life, yet the number is comparatively 
small; and probably the catalogue of no institution 
of learning exhibits so large a proportion of suc- 
cessful men. 1 

In the great body of graduates from the Military 
Academy, Grant held an average standing ; he was a 
fair type of the whole. In a class, which originally 
numbered near a hundred, thirty-nine only were 

1 See Cullum's Biographical Register. 



WEST POINT. 31 

graduated, and of these Grant was the twenty-first. 
Looking only to those who graduated, Grant stood 
below the middle ; but looking to the whole class, he 
stood much above that. Class-standing, whether at 
the Military Academy or in colleges, is an evidence 
of persevering and industrious scholarship ; but not 
necessarily of the best minds. One of the most brill- 
iant men, in intellectual capacity, I ever knew, in 
either civil or military service, was General Ormsby 
M' Knight Mitchel, and he stood fifteenth in a class 
ol twenty-four. There were men in his class gradu- 
ated above him, who, although worthy and successful, 
were never equal to him. 

Of Grant's personal conduct among the cadets 
little is known, except a reminiscence of Professor 
Coppee, who was contemporary with him at the 
Academy. 1 He says : 

" The honor of being his comrade for two years at 
the Academy enables me to speak more intelligently, 
perhaps, than those of the ' new school,' who have 
invented the most absurd stories to illustrate his cadet 
life. I remember him as a plain, straightforward, 
common-sense youth ; quiet, rather of the old head 
on young shoulders' order ; shunning notoriety ; quite 
contented, while others were grumbling ; taking to his 
military duties in a very business-like manner ; not 
a prominent man in the corps, but respected by all, 
and very popular with his friends. His sobriquet of 
'Uncle Sam' was given to him there, where every 
good fellow has a nickname, from these very qual- 
ities ; indeed he was a very uncle-like sort of a youth. 
1 See " Grant and his Campaigns," by Coppee, page 22. 



32 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

lie was then and always an excellent horseman, and 
his picture rises before me, as I write, in the old torn 
coat, obsolescent leather gig-top, loose riding panta- 
loons, with spurs buckled over them, going with his 
clanking saber to the drill hall. He exhibited but 
little enthusiasm in any thing; his best standing was 
in the mathematical branches, and their application 
to tactics and military engineering." 

If we suppose the boy described by Mr. Grant, 
and the cadet described by Professor Coppee, to be 
grown up into a man of experience, and become 
General Grant, we shall find no difference whatever 
in the character, but only a growth, and a fullness, 
and an eminence, into which the natural germ, the 
boy, born in Ohio, bred in simple habits, and directed 
by worthy parents, has steadily and successfully been 
developed. Plain, quiet, retired, industrious, and well 
disposed ; such was Grant on the Ohio and on the 
Hudson, and thence we shall follow him to his active 
military career. 



GRAD UA TES A T WEST POINT, 3 3 



CHAPTER II. 

GRADUATES AT WEST POINT — IN THE FOURTH REGIMENT — 
ITS HISTORY-KJOES TO MEXICO — IS IN THE BATTLES OF 
PALO ALTO, MONTEREY, CERRO GORDO, CHERUBUSCO — IS 
TWICE PROMOTED — RESIGNS — BECOMES FARMER, BROKER, 
AND LEATHER-DEALER. 

UNDER the severe and salutary system of West 
Point Grant graduated, July 1, 1843, an d was 
appointed brevet Second Lieutenant of the Fourth 
Infantry. A "brevet" was originally, and is yet, an 
honorary distinction for distinguished services. In 
the case of cadets, however, it is a designation simply 
of the rank they are to hold, and the regiments to 
which they are assigned, when there are any vacan- 
cies. This designation is made according to class 
rank, and beginning with the engineer corps, which 
is esteemed the best, because the officers have no 
line-duty to perform, and are substantially in civil 
life, except in war, when they are a part of the staff 
of the army, and employed in topographical and en- 
gineering duties. 

Grant was breveted to the Fourth Infantry, and 
that regiment has a history unequaled by any. A 
regiment, like a country, survives after the individuals 
have perished. I remember, when a boy, near Cincin- 
nati, to have seen the Fourth Regiment on its march 



34 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

from the victory of Tippecanoe to the army of Hull ; 
that army, composed partly of regulars and partly of 
volunteers, marched by my father's house, on a bright 
day in June, full of hope and anticipations of victory. 
Never were expectations so disappointed. The army 
returned as prisoners of war, having been needlessly 
and disgracefully surrendered by Hull. It was the 
only disgrace the Fourth Regiment ever suffered ; it 
fought through the War of 1812-15 with Great Brit- 
ain ; it took part in all the bloody battles of Mexico ; 
it fought at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma ; it 
was in the storm of Monterey, at the siege of Vera 
Cruz, at Cerro Gordo, at Cherubusco, and Molino del 
Rey ; at the storm of Chapultepec, and the surrender 
of Mexico. When the great Rebellion took place it 
pursued the same career, and from battle to battle 
carried its blood-stained flag. Hung up at West 
Point are the trophies of its history and its glory. 

Into this regiment Ulysses S. Grant was promoted, 
and for ten years he took part in its fortunes. He 
was in garrison duty for two years, till the Texas occu- 
pation took place ; then his regiment made part of the 
army of General Taylor, when he took his position at 
Aranzas Bay. With the politics of the war which 
ensued a sub-lieutenant of the army could have noth- 
ing to do, and probably cared as little ; but it is curious 
to observe that, although the diplomatic correspond- 
ence of Messrs. Buchanan and Donelson proved that 
war was inevitable, yet the Government had taken no 
measures to increase the strength of the army ! The 
Fourth Regiment numbered 511 men, and that was 
above the average ; the full strength of a regiment is 



GOES TO MEXICO. 35 

more than 1,000 men. The strength of the regiments 
had never been so small since 1808; but this was a 
matter which young Grant probably neither knew 
nor cared for. This want of precaution must, how- 
ever, have increased the losses and difficulties of the 
subsequent campaigns. 

On the 8th of March, 1846, the advanced column 
of General Taylor's army commenced its march for 
Corpus Christi, and on the 18th the whole was con- 
centrated near the banks of the Arroga Colorado, 
thirty miles from Matamoras, but subsequently re- 
turned to Point Isabel. 1 To this army, we have seen, 
Grant belonged. On the 8th of May was fought the 
battle of Palo Alto, and on the 9th that of Resaca de 
la Palma, both of which were decisive victories. We 
need not follow the details of marches and engage- 
ments in which the army of Taylor took part, and in 
which young Grant participated as a subaltern, and 
then unknown officer. It is sufficient to say, that 
on the 23d of September following, Monterey was 
stormed, in which the Fourth Regiment participated, 
and that in March following it was found with the 
army of General Scott, in front of Vera Cruz. 

After fighting the bloody battle of Cerro Gordo, 
and advancing to Puebla, it was there concentrated, 
drilled, and organized for the march on Mexico. The 
Fourth Regiment, to which Grant belonged, made 
part of the First Brigade (under Colonel Garland) in 
the First Division, under the command of General 
Worth. In the battles of the Valley of Mexico, this 
Division was engaged in the hardest conflicts. On 

1 See Mansfield's " Mexican War." 



36 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the 9th of August this Division commenced its 
march to Mexico. The main road was found to be 
impassable, in consequence of the impregnable forti- 
fications of El Penon. In consequence of this, Scott 
reversed the order of march by leaving the main 
roads to Mexico and turning Lake Chalco to the 
south. 1 Worth's Division, which had been in the 
rear, now became the advance, and on the 15th of 
August proceeded steadily to the fortified position 
of San Antonio. The march round the lake to San 
Augustine was twenty-seven miles, by a route deemed 
by the Mexicans impracticable, and on the 18th all 
the corps were in position. Then followed, on the 
19th, the great battles of Contreras and Cherubusco. 
After these was a pause, in which war was interrupted 
by some fruitless negotiations. On the 7th of Sep- 
tember Scott ordered a corps, composed mainly of 
Worth's Division, of which the Fourth Regiment was 
part, to attack and carry Molino del Rey, (or King's 
Mill,) which was part of the defenses of Chapultepec. 
On the morning of the 8th Worth moved to the 
storm of the fortified Mill. It was obstinately de- 
fended, and the American loss was relatively greater 
than in any battle of the Mexican War. I mention 
this more particularly because for his gallant conduct 
in this action Grant received his first promotion. 
He stands on the Register of the Military Academy: 
" Breveted First Lieutenant, September 8, 1 847, for 
gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle of 
Molino del Rey." 

On the 1 2th of September the army stormed the 

1 Mansfield's " Mexican War." 



CAPTURE OF MEXICO. 37 

hill and castle of Chapultepec. Here again Grant 
won promotion, and he is again recorded on the 
Register as "breveted Captain, September 13th, for 
gallant, conduct at Chapultepec." On the 14th he 
entered the city of Mexico. In the engagements 
attending the capture of the city he distinguished 
himself by one of those gallant little actions which 
show the spirit and character of the true soldier. 
It is thus mentioned in the official report of Major 
Francis Lee, commanding the Fourth Infantry in 
that battle : 

"At the first barrier the enemy was in strong 
force, which rendered it necessary to advance with 
caution. This was done, and when the head of the 
battalion was within short musket-range of the bar- 
rier, Lieutenant Grant, Fourth Infantry, and Captain 
Brooks, Second Artillery, with a few men of their 
respective regiments, by a handsome movement to 
the left, turned the right flank of the enemy, and the 
barrier was carried." And he mentions Lieutenant 
Grant as "among the most distinguished for their 
zeal and activity." 

The battle over, Grant was one of that army now 
standing in the city of the Montezumas, and consti- 
tuting part of a scene which, in romance and inter- 
est, is equaled by few in the drama of history. The 
14th of September was a memorable day. Grant 
belonged, as I have said, to the Division of Worth. 
About daylight Scott gave command to Worth and 
Quitman to advance and occupy the city. The corps 
of Quitman rushed forward, and soon the colors of 
its regiments were planted on the far-famed palace 



38 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

of Mexico. Worth's Division had been delayed at 
the Alameda, that the men who had entered the 
Belen gate the night before might be first in the 
grand plaza. At 7, A. M., on the 14th of September, 
1847, the flag of the American Union was hoisted on 
the walls of the national palace in the city of Mexico. 
Soon after this event, at 9, A. M., a " tremendous 
hurrah broke from the corner of the plaza, and in a 
few minutes were seen the towering plumes and com- 
manding form of our gallant old hero, General 
Scott, escorted by the Second Dragoons. The 
heart-felt welcome that came from our little band was 
such as Montezuma's halls had never heard." 1 

Here we must stop to observe a fact, which is 
most singular in American history, and strikingly 
illustrating the infirmities of human nature and the 
uncertainty of human conduct. Gathered round Scott 
on that memorable day were young men who were 
the flower of the American army, who rejoiced in a 
common flag, a common country, and common vic- 
tories, but who, in a few years after, were fighting 
against one another as mortal foes. Some who were 
there no longer followed that flag, no longer loved 
that country, no longer rejoiced in a common inher- 
itance ! In fact, the army of Scott in the conquest 
of Mexico was the great school in which the leading 
soldiers in the War of the Rebellion, whether for 
or against the Union, were taught the art of war, 
inured to its vicissitudes, and skilled in the handling 
of armies On Scott's staff, most honored and most 
distinguished, were Lee and Beauregard ; and in the 

'Mansfield's "Mexican War." 



CLOSE OF THE MEXICAN WAR. 39 

line of the army there stood Grant, and Lyon, and 
McClellan, and Hancock, and Buell, and Steele, 
and a host of others, who fought gloriously under 
their country's flag. 1 From the plaza of Mexico they 
separated, never again to meet in a common army 
and a common cause. Over some of them, like 
Lyon, the grave has long closed, and 

" The brave have sunk to rest, 
By all their country's wishes blest !" 

The Fourth Regiment, to which Grant belonged, 
had thirty-seven men killed in battle ; thirty-one died 
of wounds, and one hundred and twenty-three died 
of disease. Out of five hundred and eleven men and 
officers who marched to Mexico, one hundred and 
ninety-one perished in the war. This fact is alone 
enough to show the active part it took in those 
campaigns. 

The military events, which closed on the 18th of 
September with the capture of the city of Mexico, 
closed also, with the exception of some incidental and 
minor engagements, the war with Mexico. To all 
practical intents, Mexico was conquered. From Santa 
Fe in the north to Tampico in the south ; from the 
Rio Grande to the shores of the Pacific ; from the 
hights of the Sierra Madre to those of the Sierra 
Nevada, the troops and navy of the United States 
held every position which, either in a military or 
commercial view, was valuable or accessible to the 
channels of business and population. Henceforward, 

1 See Cullum's " Biographical Register " of West Point, an inter- 
esting and valuable work. 



40 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the chief movement of our troops was the advance of 
reinforcements, which, had they been earlier, had been 
useful, but were now too late to aid the victorious 
army or share in the glory of its achievements.' 

The army remained but a short time in Mexico. 
While there occurred an incident which again showed 
Grant's superior horsemanship. Professor Coppee, who 
was also in Scott's army in Mexico, says : 

"During our residence at the capital I heard a 
' horse-story ' about Grant, which has not appeared in 
the books, but which is at least true. He was an 
admirable horseman, and had a very spirited horse. 
A Mexican gentleman, with whom he was upon 
friendly terms, asked the loan of his horse. Grant 
said afterward : ' I was afraid he could not ride him, 
and yet I knew, if I said a word to that effect, the 
suspicious Spanish nature would think I did not wish 
to lend him.' The result was, the Mexican mounted 
him, was thrown before he had gone two blocks, and 
killed on the spot." Professor Coppee justly says: 
" It must not be supposed that these services during 
the Mexican War are now dressed up to assimilate 
with his after career. He was really distinguished in 
that war above most of those of his own rank." 2 

Thus we see this young man was making his way 
ahead, yet so unknown and unregarded are the sub- 
altern officers of infantry, that the staff officers of that 
army did not even remember him. Scott thought he 
recollected such a name in Mexico, and Lee, (who 
was one of the most distinguished on Scott's staff,) 
thought he had seen him. He certainly did see him 

1 Mansfield's " Mexican War." 2 " Grant and His Campaigns." 



HIS MARRIAGE. 4 1 

afterward on an occasion more memorable in history 
than any thing which took place in Mexico. 

But we must now follow Grant to more peaceful 
scenes. His career in war was for the present ended. 
The conquest of Mexico was complete. Negotiations 
soon took place, and peace was restored. Upon the 
close of the war the Fourth Infantry was sent to New 
York, then to the northern frontier, at Detroit and 
at Sackett's Harbor. 

Sometime prior to the Mexican War Grant had 
been stationed at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, and 
there visited in the family of Mr. Frederick Dent, 
whose son (now General Dent) had been his class- 
mate at West Point. Here he became engaged to 
Miss Julia S. Dent, but the occurrences of the Mexi- 
can War prevented their marriage. Grant was hurried 
off to Mexico, and took, as we have seen, his first 
lessons in war. In August, 1848, however, they were 
married. Here commenced a series of vicissitudes, in 
place and circumstances, to which army officers are 
always liable. They can count upon no settled home, 
and often, when they get comfortably fixed, and have 
made friends and associations, from which it is hard 
to part, they are suddenly broken up, and hurried to 
a distant region of the country. This was particularly 
the case with Grant. The officers and troops were 
distributed in the country, as they had formerly been. 
He was made Quarter-master of the Fourth Infantry, 
and was successively stationed at Sackett's Harbor, 
New York ; Detroit, Michigan ; Fort Columbus, New 
York ; Benicia, California ; Fort Vancouver, Oregon ; 
and Fort Humboldt, Colorado. The mere naming of 

4 



42 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

these places shows how widely and frequently the 
officers of our army are scattered. It was probably 
for this reason that Grant left the army. He was 
made full Captain of the Fourth Infantry in August, 
1853, but in July, 1854, resigned. 

The civil history of Grant makes a period of seven 
years, and is not filled with any remarkable events, 
except those of a purely domestic nature. He seems 
to have been like many men, who get out of their 
element, and do not very well know how to get in again. 
Few army officers who undertake to retire, after years 
of active service, find themselves completely at home 
in civil life, till years have partially obliterated their 
former experience. In spite of the restless character 
of Americans, we all like, after some years of fixed 
habits, from which we have wandered away, to return 
to the routine of our old ways. The ways of the army 
are always a routine. It may be sent over the globe 
and scattered in many parts, but the habits, or daily 
ways of the army, are fixed. Grant had been sepa- 
rated from his family, and was likely to be. For this 
reason he resigned, without, it seems, having a very 
definite idea of what he was going to do. Having 
when a boy a detestation of the tannery, he told his 
father he would like to be a farmer, or go down the 
river. The last his father would not allow, and sent 
him to West Point. Now his old notion of being a 
farmer seemed to have returned ; and, accordingly, 
we find him at St. Louis. At this period of his life 
his father says: "His wish to become a farmer was 
now realized. Mr. Dent, his father-in-law, gave his 
wife a farm about nine miles from St. Louis, in Mis- 



CIVIL LIFE. 43 

souri, and % stocked it. Grant farmed it for about 
four years, at the end of which he was not so well off 
pecuniarily as when he began. To be sure, he had 
made some improvements on the place ; he had built 
a new house — in part with his own hands — of hewn 
logs, for himself to live in. During all this time he 
worked like a slave ; no man ever worked harder. 
He used to market wood. He kept men to chop it 
in the woods, and he hauled it to St. Louis. He had 
two teams ; he drove one himself, and his little son 
drove the other. Grant was a thorough farmer, and 
an excellent plowman — though he never plowed a 
great deal." 

It is said, that a lady of St. Louis met General 
Grant at Washington, after the close of the war, when 
he stood amid admiring circles, and said : " General, 
I think I saw you at St. Louis." "Yes, madam, I 
used to bring you wood ; that was the happiest part 
of my life, when I was laboring hard for the support 
of my family." He was probably right, for no rest is 
so sweet as that which follows a day's labor in the 
honest pursuit of daily bread ; and the rewards of 
such a life are greater than those which attend the 
successful soldier. Cincinnatus at his plow is more 
envied than Caesar at the Capitol. 

This four years of hard work was of inestimable 
service to Grant. It gave him knowledge of a class 
of objects, and of the management of affairs in civil 
life, which it is necessary for a general to know, 
though he may not have them to do himself. The 
office of commander of an army, to be well filled and 
well performed, is something like what Cicero describes 



44 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT, 

that of an orator to be. It requires some knowledge 
of almost every subject. The course which Grant 
was led into seemed as if he really were in prepara- 
tion for the office of commander. Four years a 
farmer, he had got no richer; in fact, I suppose, did 
not see clearly how to make the ends of the year 
meet. So he stepped out of farming, moved to St. 
Louis, and went into the real estate business with a 
man named Boggs. It is probable that this kind of 
business, which requires some of the tricks of trade, 
suited him less than any other. At any rate, he saw 
the profits were not enough for two, and he told his 
partner : " You may take the whole of this, and I will 
look up something else to do." He next got a place 
in the Custom-house, which he held for about two 
months, when the collector who appointed him died, 
and he left. It is said that he undertook two or three 
other occupations. However that may be, he pursued 
none long. At length his father found an employ- 
ment for him, with which he was at least more 
familiar, if not better fitted. His father describes 
it thus: 

" I owned a leather store at Galena, Illinois, which 
was conducted by my two other sons. Grant went to 
Galena and joined them in that. He took right 
hold of the business with his accustomed industry, 
and was a very good salesman. He had a faculty 
to entertain people in conversation, although he 
talked but little himself. But he never would take 
any pains to extend his acquaintance in Galena ; 
and after he joined the army, and had begun to br 
distinguished, citizens of the town would stop j\ 



CIVIL LIFE. 45 

front of our store, within six feet of the windows, and 
look in to see which of the Grants it was that was 
absent, and had suddenly become famous." 

I can imagine that Grant must have thought to 
himself that Fortune was obstinately thwarting all his 
wishes, when she brought him to smell, if not take 
part in, the business of a tannery. Grant was out of 
his element, and although his last occupation was 
more familiar, it was scarcely more congenial. Here, 
however, he lived contented ; his wants were supplied, 
and his ambition was certainly confined within moder- 
ate limits. When the War of the Rebellion was over, 
some one was speaking to Grant about what he might 
aspire to ; what offices he might obtain ; what desires 
he might satisfy; to which he quietly remarked, that 
he only " wanted to be Mayor of Galena for one year, 
that he might get the street paved from his house to 
the river." He must have been a very quiet, retired 
man there ; for when he afterward became so greatly 
distinguished, the people of Galena tried to recollect 
who he was ; few remembered him ; and he was even 
unknown to the member of Congress from his district, 
Mr. Washburn. One of the papers of Galena has 
recently undertaken to tell how little known and how 
really obscure he was. If true, it only shows that he 
took no part in public affairs, made no noise, and was 
unobtrusive upon other men's business. This was his 
natural character, and from it nothing could be argued 
for or against his fitness for any particular line of 
public business. A man living on the sides of Vesu- 
vius, before its last eruption, could truly say, that he 
never heard of its eruption ; that it was always quiet ; 



46 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

and that it manifested no signs of great power or 
extraordinary brilliancy. But the time was near when 
it did manifest great force, and when the world was 
filled with the rumor of its vast commotion. Men 
can not do extraordinary things without an extraordi- 
nary occasion. In common times, and with no con- 
vulsions of society, the river of life flows evenly on. 
No great falls, no long rapids, interrupt the even tenor 
of its ways. It is God who furnishes opportunities 
for men, and furnishes them with the qualities neces- 
sary to the great occasion. Grant would not have 
been commander of the army, nor that army been 
able to accomplish mighty purposes, if it had not been 
for that Divine Providence, which furnished the occa- 
sion, the ability, and the means. On this part of 
Grant's life, between the war of Mexico and the War 
of the Rebellion, Professor Coppee justly remarks: 1 

" That he tried many shifts, does not betoken a 
feeble or volatile nature, but simply the invention 
which is born of necessity. As a small farmer near 
• St. Louis, and a dealer in wood, he made a precarious 
living ; as a money-collector, he did no more, having 
neither the nature to bully, nor the meanness to 
wheedle the debtors. He is said, also, to have played 
the auctioneer; but in this branch, unless he made 
longer speeches than he has done since, he could 
achieve no success. At Galena, a place which had a 
growing trade with Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, 
the industry, good sense, and honesty of Grant did 
at length achieve a certain and honorable success, and 
had not the Rebellion broken out, he would have had 

1 " Grant and his Campaigns." 



A NEW EPOCH. 47 

a local reputation in the firm of Grant & Son, as an 
admirable judge of leather, perhaps Mayor of Galena, 
with a thoroughly well-mended side-walk, visited al- 
ways with pleasure by his old army friends traveling 
westward, but never heard of by the public. His 
greatest success had been achieved in the army; his 
Mexican experience gave glimpses of a future in that 
line ; he needed only opportunity, and he was to have 
it abundantly." Here, then, begins a new epoch for 
him, as well as for the nation. The even tenor of his 
life was to be broken by a sudden plunge into the 
stormy elements of revolution, amidst the angry pas- 
sions of men, into the conflicts of war, and to be 
borne upon the waves of a mighty nation thrown into 
convulsions by the terrors of the tempest. The forest 
was filled with the winds, the vales resounded with 
the drum, and the war-clouds rested on the hills. 
Then Grant returned to his element, then he renewed 
his armor, and soon began that career which, com- 
mencing in the office of Governor Yates at Spring- 
field, flowed through all the campaigns of the war, 
and terminated only in the surrender of Lee at Ap- 
pomattox Court-House. 



48 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



CHAPTER III. 

GRAND UPRISING — THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS LAUGHS— 
THE PEOPLE ANSWER — LINCOLN'S PROCLAMATION — GRANT 
AT GALENA — VOLUNTEERS — APPOINTED COLONEL OF THE 
TWENTY-FIRST ILLINOIS — COMMANDS AT CAIRO — ATTACKS 
BELMONT — GRAND RECONNOISSANCE — STRATEGIC LINE OF 
REBEL DEFENSE — FORT HENRY — ITS CAPTURE AND RE- 
SULTS. 

FORT SUMPTER was fired upon. It was the 
match to the magazine already prepared for ex- 
plosion. In a bright morning in April, the telegraph 
announced to the nation, from Passamaquoddy to 
the Rio Grande, and from the Lakes to the Ocean — 
Fort Sumpter is fired upon ! Although every in- 
telligent man saw the coming storm ; although the 
heavens were black with clouds, and the air already 
filled with the roar of the coming tempest, yet most 
men had a desire, if not an expectation, that in some 
way the storm would pass over. As we had often 
seen in a sultry day of summer, the clouds gather 
suddenly up, and then pass away with a brisk wind, 
so we thought this threatened tempest might disap- 
pear without harm. Patriotic men could not conceive 
the idea of Americans deliberately firing on the flag 
of their country. It was an idea utterly foreign to 
their natures. So, when Fort Sumpter was actually 



THE GREAT UPRISING. 49 

fired upon by the batteries on Sullivan's Island, it 
was even more startling than would have been the 
loudest thunder from the most cloudless sky. It 
was startling, but there was no terror. It was the 
strengthening, not the relaxing of the nerves. In 
one moment every patriotic heart was braced up ; 
every idea was concentrated on the country ; every 
energy put forth for its salvation. Men saw the 
danger, but its greatness did not appall them. The 
whole loyal people sprung to action, as if excited by 
the touch of electricity. Their souls were fired ; and 
never did any country exhibit such a scene as did 
republican America on the 15th of April, 1861. 
Multitudes met in all the great cities, and pledged 
their lives and fortunes to the Government. Private 
estates were offered ; banks opened their vaults, and 
before the President's Proclamation could be issued, 
volunteers were already assembling for the field. 
The Marseillaise was not sung; but the churches 
were opened, and the most fervent of prayers offered 
up to the Divine Ruler of the Universe, that the 
God who had strengthened the fathers in building 
up, would now strengthen the children to preserve 
the Republic from ruin. No such scenes of assem- 
bled millions ; of profound emotion ; of determined 
resolution ; of universal action, had ever been exhib- 
ited in National history. It could not have existed 
before ; for never before had republican institutions 
given such perfect elasticity and freedom of move- 
ment ; and never before had the telegraph furnished 
the means of such instantaneous information. It 
seemed as if the National nerves had been struck at 

5 



50 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the same moment from one end of the continent to 
the other, and vibrated together with a common 
emotion. A few days before, the country seemed, to 
a common observer, as quiet as a lake on a summer 
day. Heavy clouds were indeed gathering, but no 
wind ruffled the waters, and no sudden alarm startled 
the bystanders. Then the storm came. Then the 
nation rushed to arms; the drum beat on every hill- 
side ; the streets were filled with companies of volun- 
teers ; the green fields were occupied with camps ; 
and the National flag was raised on every house and 
in every highway. A nation of peaceful citizens was 
transformed into a vast army of volunteer soldiers. 
The events of that day may be accurately set down 
in history ; but no history can ever paint the scene 
for posterity, as it was exhibited to the eye-witnesses 
who were actors in it. Though we had 

" Tully's voice and Virgil's lay, 
And Livy's pictured page " 



we should fail to represent that grand uprising of a 
nation, in the magnitude of its passion and the 
strength of its faith. 

The popular emotion had scarcely been expressed, 
when Lincoln, President of the United States, issued 
his Proclamation, dated April 15, 1861. In that, 
after stating that the laws of the United States were 
opposed and "obstructed in the States of South Car- 
olina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisi- 
ana, and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be 
suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceed- 
ings," he called forth " the militia of the several States 



THE GREAT UPRISING. 5 I 

of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy- 
five thousand, in order to suppress said combination," 
and for that purpose, he said : " I appeal to all loyal 
citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to main- 
tain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our 
National Union, and the perpetuity of our National 
Government, and to redress wrongs already long 
enough endured." 

At this time the "Confederate Congress," as it 
was called, was sitting at Montgomery, and when 
Mr. Lincoln's Proclamation was read, received it with 
a laugh of derision ! Seventy-five thousand men to 
put down the Southern Confederacy! But Mr. Lin- 
coln was right. The object of that Proclamation was 
to test the spirit of the country. It announced war. 
It startled the people, and if the popular heart really 
responded to the call of the Government, not only 
seventy thousand, but seven hundred thousand, would 
rush to arms ; and so it was. Before July was gone 
half a million of men had volunteered for the field, 
and the country was resounding with martial music 
and the tramp of troops. Thus the acts of the nation 
responded to the emotions of its heart. No indif- 
ference of feeling, no love of ease, no corruptions 
of avarice, no sluggishness of action, which had so 
often arrested the energies of other nations, for one 
moment stopped the career of our Republic. The 
demoniac laugh of the Confederate Congress at Mont- 
gomery was answered with the loud shout of loyal 
millions, and before long its triumphant boasts were 
buried in the graves of traitors, and the surrender of 
its defeated armies. Long did treason hold out, and 



52 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

bravely did it fight, but in vain. The patriotic masses 
of the nation were hurled against it, with all the en- 
ergy of a noble and exalted patriotism. Sad was this 
scene of internal convulsion, but gloriously did the 
Republic triumph, and undeniably did it prove to the 
world that the Government of the people was the 
strongest of all governments. How inestimable to 
the peoples of the earth that demonstration is, it will 
be for after history to record and illustrate. 

Lincoln's Proclamation of the 15th of April found 
Grant, as we have seen, in a leather store at Galena. 
He was comparatively prosperous, but a soldier, bred 
as he was, could not remain inactive when millions 
were marching to the field, and the public heart 
was throbbing with emotion. He was not naturally 
enthusiastic, but he was brave, patriotic, and well 
acquainted with his duty. So he wrote to his father 
asking, as he had been educated by the Government, 
whether he had not better go into the army?' But 
these were fast times ; a week was equal in events to 
a year in peace, and before his father could answer, in 
six days after the fall of Fort Sumpter, he was drilling 
a company. He declined the captaincy of the com- 
pany, but marched with it to Springfield, the capi- 
tal of Illinois. There he was introduced to Governor 
Yates by Mr. Washburn, the representative of the 
Galena district. A day or two afterward the Gov- 
ernor sent for him, and asked : 

" Do you understand how many men it takes to 
make a company? And how many to make a regi- 
ment? And what officers each must have?" 

1 J. R. Grant's Letters in New York Ledger. 



APPOINTED COLONEL. 53 

" O, yes," replied Grant, " I understand all about 
such matters ; I was educated at West Point, and 
served eleven years in the regular army." 

"Well, then," said the Governor, "I want you to 
take a chair, here in my office, as Adjutant-General 
of the State." 

After several weeks passed by the Governor asked 
a young man, who had been with Grant in the mer- 
cantile house, " What sort of a man is this Grant ? 
He says he wants to go into the army, and several 
regiments have offered to elect him Colonel, but he 
says ' No.' " His friend replied, that Grant had only 
served in the regular army, where officers are never 
elected ; that he had served eleven years in the army, 
and that, if the Governor wanted to give him a place, 
he should send Grant a commission without consult- 
ing him. The Governor did so, and appointed him 
Colonel of the 21st Illinois Infantry, while he was on 
a short visit to his father. 

On taking command of this regiment his first 
object was to drill the men perfectly, and use them 
to military habits. They were organized at Mattoon, 
but he removed them to Caseyville, where he super- 
intended their drill. Not long after, Quincy was sup- 
posed to be in danger, and he marched the regiment, 
for want of railroad transportation, to that place, one 
hundred and twenty miles. Here he was ordered to de- 
fend the Hannibal Railroad, and moved to St. Joseph, 
the western terminus, in the " District of North- 
ern Missouri," under the command of General John 
Pope. Here, meeting with other regiments, although 
the youngest Colonel, he was selected as Brigadier- 



54 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

General, and in July, 1861, made his head-quarters at 
Mexico, Missouri. Thence he made various marches 
to different points — to Pilot Knob, Ironton, and Jef- 
ferson City, defending the river from threatened at- 
tacks from Colonel Jefferson Thompson. In August 
he received his commission, dated May 17th, as Brig- 
adier-General of Volunteers. It was the seventeenth 
of thirty-four original appointments. 

At this time he was ordered to proceed to Cairo 
and take command of the " District of South-East 
Missouri," which included both banks of the Missis- 
sippi River, from Cape Girardeau to New Madrid, 
and on the Ohio the whole of Western Kentucky. 
Any military man, and almost any intelligent person, 
will see, by a mere examination of the map, that in 
all the country west of the Alleghany Mountains, 
likely to be in any event the scene of war, Cairo 
was the most important point. Geographically and 
strategically, it is the key of the Mississippi Valley. 
Below was the Lower Mississippi to the gulf; above 
was the Upper Mississippi, including St. Louis ; west 
was the Missouri, and east the Ohio. A garrison 
holding Cairo can cut off communication between 
three great arms of internal navigation, and then, if 
sufficiently strong, be able to strike the rear of any 
military force sent through the interior. If Cairo 
were held by the enemy, where would be our steam- 
boat transportation of supplies, which proved of such 
inestimable service during the war ? What was the 
actual condition of Kentucky and Missouri at that 
time ? South-Eastern Missouri, opposite and below, 
was held by the rebels then, and for a long time 



COMMANDS AT CAIRO. 55 

afterward. Kentucky then professed a sort of armed 
neutrality ; but half her young men had entered the 
rebel army, and from what we know now, it is evi- 
dent that three-fourths of her people were on the 
rebel side. If we suppose a strong force from Mis- 
souri and Kentucky to have moved on Cairo, in the 
summer of 1861, it would have been taken, and the 
loss to the Government would have been incalcula- 
ble. It seemed to me, then, very singular that the 
rebel leaders did not make the attempt, and equally 
strange that the Government delayed so long in 
making it strong and defensible. On the rebel side, 
it may be said that the war found the Confederates 
in the West without a complete organization, and 
without efficient leaders. The attempted " neutral- 
ity " of Kentucky, (which was at best only a flimsy 
disguise,) lost them several months of time, which, 
if actively and skillfully employed, would have struck 
heavy blows to the Union cause on the Mississippi. 
At length, however, the Government perceived the 
necessity of a rallying point and defense at Cairo. 
It was, in fact, what engineers call a point d'appui. 

The appointment of Grant to the command of 
Cairo settled the difficulty, and from Cairo Grant 
commences a new career. He had got back to his 
element, and now he lacks neither energy nor pur- 
pose. He immediately entered Cairo, with two bri- 
gades, and took a calm view of the situation. Two 
things were quite obvious : one, that Kentucky " neu- 
trality " would not prevent the rebel forces from occu- 
pying that State ; the other, that the mouths, and as 
far as possible the navigation, of the Cumberland and 



$6 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Tennessee Rivers, were essential to the Union army. 
If the reader will look upon a map, he will see that 
the Cumberland and the Tennessee Rivers enter the 
Ohio not more than ten or twelve miles apart, (not 
very far from Cairo,) and that they both traverse 
Kentucky and Tennessee. For some distance in the 
interior of Kentucky they run in a general parallel 
direction. Besides this, the Cumberland is navigable 
to Nashville, the capital of Tennessee. Below Cairo, 
on the Mississippi, some twenty miles down, are 
bluffs, capable of being fortified at and near Colum- 
bus. If the rebels could have done it, they would 
have seized Cairo, Paducah, and the mouth of the 
Cumberland, and have made the Ohio River the line 
of defense. No doubt this was their original plan ; 
but, fortunately for the Government, and most un- 
fortunately for them, they were too late. Kentucky 
neutrality, and the want of military ability, had de- 
layed them too long. They now sought to retrieve 
their error by marching a large force through Ken- 
tucky, seizing Bowling Green and Hickman, and 
establishing themselves at Columbus, in that State, 
under the command of General Leonidas Polk. Grant 
watched their movements from Cairo, and saw their 
object. Fremont was then in command of the dis- 
trict to which Cairo was attached, and Grant tele- 
graphed him that the enemy had invaded Kentucky, 
and that " he was nearly ready for Paducah, should 
not a telegram prevent the movement." No tele- 
gram came, and Grant left Cairo on the evening of 
the 5th of September, and occupied Paducah on the 
6th. In the same manner he occupied Smithland, 



REBEL TROOPS AT BELMONT. 57 

at the mouth of the Cumberland, and thus closed two 
gates to the enemy and opened them for himself. It 
was not an hour too soon, for the enemy had already 
approached within a short distance of Paducah, and 
their friends had prepared them comfortable meals 
to welcome their arrival. 

Having done this, Grant next planned an ex- 
pedition against Columbus, not with the view of 
making any serious impression on that place, which 
was heavily garrisoned by the army under General 
Leonidas Polk, in a commanding position, but to 
prevent the sending of reinforcements to Thompson 
and Price in Missouri, and to reconnoiter the general 
position of the enemy. To further this plan he sent 
out General C. F. Smith from Paducah, to make a 
demonstration toward Columbus. Prior to this, Polk 
had actually landed a body of troops at the little 
village of Belmont, on low ground opposite Co- 
lumbus, and under the guns of that place. These 
troops had, however, moved out and made an ad- 
vanced encampment. Beyond a doubt Polk was pre- 
paring to reenforce Thompson and Price. At the 
same time a portion of the rebel troops had their 
knapsacks on, preparing to reenforce Bowling Green. 
In fact Columbus was a commanding, fortified camp 
on the Mississippi, which, as appears from the con- 
current testimony of Polk's General Orders, and the 
contemporaneous accounts, was then held by a large 
army, with a view to reenforcing Missouri or Southern 
Kentucky. It was a point cFappui on the rebel side, 
as Cairo was on ours. This Grant knew, and now 



58 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

prepared an expedition for the purpose of checking 
that scheme. The force selected was composed of: 

Twenty-Second Illinois, Colonel Dougherty. 
Twenty-Seventh Illinois, Colonel Buford. 
Thirtieth Illinois, Colonel Fouke. 
Thirty-First Illinois, Colonel Logan. 
Seventh Iowa, Colonel Lamon. 
Taylor's Chicago Artillery. 
Dollen's and Delano's Cavalry. 

The whole force numbered two thousand, eight hund- 
red and fifty men of all arms, 1 to make, as Grant said 
in his report, a reconnoissance toward Columbus, with 
the objects I have stated. The expedition left Cairo 
on the evening of the 6th inst, and stopped about 
nine miles below Cairo, on the Kentucky shore. 
About daylight of the 7th (November) it proceeded 
clown the river to a point just out of range of the 
rebel guns, and debarked on the Missouri shore. 
Thence it was marched about a mile toward Bel- 
mont, drawn up in line of battle, and a sharp, quick 
action took place, which terminated in driving the 
enemy from their camp, over the bank, into their 
transports. Their tents, blankets, and cannon fell 
into our hands. The former were burnt, and two 
pieces of the latter taken off by our men. These be- 
longed to Beltzhoover's Battery, of which Polk in his 
report said they saved four, which was true, but they 
lost two. Belmont could not possibly be held under 
the fire of Columbus, opposite : so Grant immediately 
retreated. In the mean time the enemy rallied, and 
were reenforced by at least ten regiments. Grant 
says the enemy attempted to surround our forces ; 

1 Grant's Oliicial Report, November 12, 1861. 



GALLANTRY OF OUR OFFICERS. 59 

but, not in the least discouraged, they charged and 
again defeated them. At length our troops reached 
the transports and returned to Cairo. The losses of 
this action were: killed, eighty-four; wounded, one 
hundred and fifty; and missing one hundred and fifty; 
making less than four hundred. What loss the enemy 
met with we only know from an account 1 giving the 
official report of four regiments at sixty-five killed, 
one hundred and eighty-seven wounded, and one 
hundred and eight missing; showing in these regi- 
ments alone three hundred and sixty-four. The 
account admits that if the loss in other regiments 
engaged were in proportion, the total loss must have 
reached one thousand. The rebel accounts substan- 
tially agree with that of Grant, except in the number 
of our forces, which Bishop Polk, in his dispatch of 
November 7th, modestly put at seven thousand, five 
hundred ! In this action all the officers behaved 
well, and in that respect Belmont is much more cred- 
itable to us than were some others of much greater 
magnitude. Grant had a horse shot under him, Mc- 
Clernand three, and every colonel of a regiment was 
reported to have behaved gallantly. In fact, one idea 
of this engagement was to show that our men could 
and would fight. This it was absolutely necessary to 
do, not so much for military results as moral effects. 
Among the many delusions which gave rise to the 
war was the singular notion that the Northern men 
would not fight, and that there was a certain and 
available superiority in the chivalry of the South. 
Exactly what that meant it would be difficult to tell; 

1 Letter in the Memphis Appeal, dated November 10, 1861. 



6o LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

but this idea had the effect of a superstitious feeling, 
for a time encouraging Southern men to hope for 
success from causes entirely without the ordinary 
laws of military science. This idea it was necessary 
to destroy, and in the course of the six months, from 
the ist of November, 1861, to May, 1862, it was most 
effectually done, and the South awakened from its 
delusions to find a hard and bloody war covering its 
homes and its fields with death and desolation. 
Grant in his Order, dated Cairo, November 8th, gave 
formal testimony to the fact that volunteers fresh from 
their shops and fields had behaved with the gallantry 
of veterans : " The General commanding this Mili- 
tary District returns thanks to the troops under his 
command at the battle of Belmont on yesterday. It 
has been his fortune to have been in all the battles 
fought in Mexico by Generals Scott and Taylor, save 
Buena Vista, and he never saw one more hotly con- 
tested, or where the troops behaved more gallantly." 

Belmont has been sharply criticised by those who 
look rather to the glory of a battle-field than to the 
objects of a battle. All military movements are made, 
if made by generals of any capacity, with a view to 
gaining some end. If that end is gained, it is of no 
moment who held the battle-field. In this instance, 
the enemy held the field, and no other result was 
possible. But Grant gained all the objects he pro- 
posed to himself, and the expedition paralyzed several 
offensive expeditions contemplated by Polk, and gave 
the first real check to the heretofore triumphant prog- 
ress of the enemy. It did more. It was the initial 
step in those vigorous, offensive operations which 



NE W MO VEMENTS. 6 1 

opened the Cumberland and the Tennessee Rivers, 
and broke through the entire defensive line of the 
enemy from Missouri to Virginia. 

We return now to the steps in what we may call 
the preparation for the great campaign of 1862. On 
the 1 2th of November, 1861, General H. W. Halleck, 
of the regular army, was sent to take command of 
the "Department of Missouri." He divided his com- 
mand into districts, of which the District of Cairo 
was the most important. This comprehended South- 
ern Illinois ; Kentucky, west of the Cumberland ; and 
Missouri, south of Cape Girardeau. In this district, 
Grant was retained, as commander, and immediately 
began to organize an army for new movements. At 
that time, military information, as to the number and 
position of forces, was, as far as possible, kept from 
the press and the public ; so that, in December and 
January, little was known of the immense prepara- 
tions made at Cairo; and when at length that army 
was hurled against the rebels on the Cumberland 
and the Tennessee, the country was as much sur- 
prised as it was rejoiced. In the mean while, it be- 
came necessary to get full information of the enemy's 
positions and strength. For this purpose, an expedi- 
tionary force under General Grant was prepared for 
a grand reconnoissance. General Buell was at this 
time operating in Kentucky, and advancing upon 
Bowling Green, the central point of the enemy's line 
of defense. 1 One object of the expedition was to 

1 Halleck's order to General Grant, dated January 6, 1862, (which he 
was no.t to communicate even to his staff,) gives the real object of this 
demonstration, which was to prevent re'enforcements to Buckner, and 



62 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

prevent Polk from detaching reinforcements from 
Columbus and the intermediate country, to aid in 
the defense of Howling Green. The main expedition 
was under the command of General McClernand, and 
consisted of five thousand, two hundred men, com- 
posed of the following regiments: 

Tenth Regiment Illinois Volunteers. 
Eighteenth Regiment Illinois Volunteers. 
Twenty-Fifth Regiment Illinois Volunteers. 
Twenty-Ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteers. 
Thirtieth Regiment Illinois Volunteers. 
Thirty-First Regiment Illinois Volunteers. 
Forty-Eighth Regiment Illinois Volunteers. 
Schwartz and Draper's Batteries of Light Artillery. 
Dickey's Cavalry, five companies. 

On the ioth of January, 1862, this force set out, 
by way of Fort Jefferson, for Columbus, the gun- 
boats Essex and St. Louis accompanying by the river. 
This reconnoissance was made over icy and miry 
roads, in a most inclement season, the infantry having 
marched seventy-five miles, and the cavalry one 
hundred and forty; returning to Cairo on the 21st of 
January. The expedition was in the highest degree 
satisfactory, having advanced to within a mile and 
a half of Columbus ; discovered several new roads, 
and diverted the enemy's attention from important 
measures which they had planned. The gun-boats 
met some of the enemy's boats, which they had at- 
tempted to fit out for offense, but soon drove them 
back under the guns of Columbus. At the same 
time, General Smith moved from Smithland, and 

divert the enemy's attention. Grant, however, using it for something 
more, got valuable information, on which the attack on Fort Henry 
was based, as appears in the pages of the text following. 



THE RIVER NAVY. 63 

General Payne from Cairo, by Bird's Point. Grant 
himself moved with the column under Payne, and 
the official report of the expedition was made by 
General McClernand. 

Unmilitary people look upon such proceedings 
and wonder what they are for. They expect a battle ; 
a town stormed, or something decisive; but they 
might just as well ask the use of a drill. In one sense, 
these great reconnoitering expeditions are a drill, to 
teach the marches and movements of war. In an- 
other, they are absolutely necessary, to feel the 
enemy ; to discover how much country he occupies 
and defends, and whether any new positions have 
been taken and fortified. This reconnoissance was 
one of the movements which preceded the coming 
campaign. 

To form an idea of the successive events of the 
war in the West, and the part General Grant had in 
them, it is absolutely necessary to take a glance at 
the preparation ; the material which it required time 
and skill to get and fit out. We have seen how the 
army was gradually gathering at Cairo, and along the 
Ohio ; how it advanced in reconnoissance, and tried 
its hand in battle and in skirmishes ; but there was 
another branch of service which, in the West, was of 
vast importance, and grew up to great magnitude. 
This was the River Navy ; the flotillas of armed 
boats, which were to force and keep the navigation of 
the Mississippi, and to guard that of the Ohio. This 
was one of the first ideas in the plans of General 
Scott. The Mississippi, Missouri, and the Ohio were 
the grand arteries of the interior, and there were 



64 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

scarcely a hundred miles of cither of them which 
were not continually attacked, or threatened, by rebel 
batteries. Even on the Ohio, the south side was, in 
many places, filled with rebels, who took all possible 
means to obstruct navigation, because, in that way, 
they could prevent the transportation of men and 
means necessary to the armies below. Such was 
the condition of affairs in the latter part of 1861. 
But the Government had anticipated this, by build- 
ing or altering boats for a river flotilla. At Cincin- 
nati, Mound City, and St. Louis, a class of vessels 
called "Gun-boats" were built. At first they were 
built with heavy timbers, and lined partially with 
iron. Subsequently, they were thoroughly iron-clad. 
In January, 1862, several of these gun-boats had been 
got ready, and Commodore Foote, one of the most 
skillful and gallant officers of the navy, was appointed 
to take command of them. Thus, by land and water, 
was rapidly gathering together that grand armament, 
which first burst through Kentucky, then Tennessee, 
then Mississippi, and culminated its triumphs in the 
surrender of Vicksburg. 

At this time we must look at the rebel line of 
defense, and our line of attack, in order to compre- 
hend properly precisely what was the meaning and 
results of subsequent military movements. The Con- 
federate commander regarded our Government (and 
justly) as making a war of invasion and subjugation. 
Nothing short of that could restore the unity of the 
country, for the Confederate States had seceded — 
declared their independence, and their determination 
to remain independent. There was no alternative, 



REBEL LINE OF DEFENSE. 65 

then, but conquest or separation. The war was a 
war of conquest, and it could be nothing else. The 
first object, then, of Mr. Davis and the Confederate 
Generals must be to seize and fortify a line which 
they could defend. In the East they intended this 
to be the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to 
the Ohio. This, however, our Government under- 
stood. General Mansfield, returning from Texas be- 
fore the war, wrote me: "We shall have war, and 
the first tiling to be done is to seize the line of the 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad." This was done sub- 
stantially before the rebel troops could reach it in 
sufficient numbers ; and it was held permanently 
(though sometimes cut by invading parties) by 
McClellan's successful campaign in Western Virginia. 
On the Ohio, as I have said, they meant to take the 
line of the Ohio ; but they were not in time, and 
Grant's occupation of Cairo, and his seizure of Padu- 
cah and Smithland, made it impossible. The con- 
sequence of these proceedings was, that the rebels 
took an interior line of defense, which, although not 
equal to the one they desired, was yet one of great 
natural advantage. The head of it in the East 
was Manassas, thence turning west into the Valley 
of Virginia, and following that to Knoxville, and 
thence across the head-waters of the Cumberland to 
Bowling Green, Fort Henry, and Columbus on the 
Mississippi. The first and the last were strong posi- 
tions. Bowling Green, Kentucky, might have been 
regarded as an advanced post — a tete-de-pont — to 
Nashville, if it had not been essential to the defense 
of Columbus. If the reader will take a map and 

6 



66 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

examine it.be will see that this was naturally a very 
strong defensive line ; in fact, by far the strongest 
between the Ohio River and the Atlantic or the 
Gulf. /// ten months of the early part of the zvar that 
line was never penetrated till the events occurred 
which I am about to relate. Let us now turn to 
the position of our forces. 

Our object, as an attacking, invading force, was to 
break that line, which involved the loss of the whole 
of it, and the substantial conquest of the whole 
country between that and the next one taken, if 
another was possible. The brief campaign of McClel- 
lan in Western Virginia was only a prelude to clear 
away the advance parties, which the enemy were 
projecting from their line in the Valley of Virginia, 
with a view to gain the Ohio River. That was 
effectually done in the summer of 1861. The next 
thing was an attack on their line to break it. This 
was made on their strongest position at Manassas, 
and failed. It was, in fact, a mistaken movement. 
Any successful assault on the compact line of the 
Confederates must come from the West, where the 
Mississippi River could be forced by our superior 
naval armament, and from which the whole rebel 
line, extensive and powerful as it was, could be turned 
and forced back upon itself — a strategy which the 
Government was obliged to adopt after ten months 
of unsuccessful effort and desultory attacks. We 
shall now see the first steps in that grand strategy 
which ended with the fall of Richmond. I do not 
Suppose that this whole scheme was adopted at once, 
or that either the Government or the generals saw 



SE CRE T PRE PAR A TIONS. 67 

at this time what were the strategical tendency of 
their proceedings ; but we can see it now ; and we 
can see in it another illustration of a law of nature 
and of Providence which history shows to be true, 
not only of the material elements of creation, but of 
the movements of men and nations. Forces, how- 
ever irregular at first, have a constant tendency to 
assume a uniformity, and several forces to combine 
in a common resultant. Physical forces and social 
forces all move on this principle. Hence, we see 
the moral and physical forces of the Government, in 
spite of errors, blunders, and inconsistencies, gradu- 
ally uniting on certain definite lines, and, by the laws 
of Providence, tending to a certain and inevitable 
result. 

On the 25th of January the expedition under 
McClernand had returned. The volunteer regiments 
of Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin had been rapidly 
forming and preparing, so that on the 1st of Feb- 
ruary, 1862, there had been gathered a large army at 
Cairo, Paducah, Fort Jefferson, and other points of 
the Mississippi. Large camps of volunteers were 
formed in Ohio and Indiana, preparing for the same 
objects. The gun-boats had been hurried to com- 
pletion, so that some of them could be used. In one 
word, the preparations of a great armament had been 
made. Halleck and Grant were plainly intent on 
something. What it was the newspaper reporters 
for once failed to find out. They told of preparations 
along the border, of rumors filling the air, of forces 
ready to be pushed forward, but where the bolt was to 
be hurled they knew not. It was commonly thought 



6$> LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

that an attack was to be made on Columbus, but that, 
if successful, would be another Manassas in the West. 
It would indeed open a certain distance down the 
Mississippi, but would leave the interior line un- 
touched. The state of uncertainty was, however, 
soon to be ended. 

Near the boundary line of Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee, about sixty miles east of Columbus, and about 
the same distance, on the common roads, from the 
Ohio River at Smithland, is Dover, on the Tennessee 
River. At this place, to which the general direction 
of the Cumberland and Tennessee from the Ohio is 
nearly parallel, these rivers approach to within twelve 
miles of each other. To stop the navigation of those 
streams by the Union boats, and thus to prevent the 
approaches to Nashville by water, and to Alabama by 
Tuscumbia and Florence, was to the rebel defenses 
a matter of supreme importance. This position was, 
perhaps, the most essential in their line of defense. 
Accordingly, as soon as they could, and long before 
it was known to our authorities, the rebels com- 
menced building the fortification near Dover, now 
known as Forts Henry and Donelson. They were 
planned for very extensive and powerful fortifications, 
which, luckily for us, the rebels never were able to 
complete. The real object of the forces designated 
by the President in his Order 1 as the "Army and 
Flotilla at Cairo," was these fortifications. In his 
return from the late reconnoissance, General C. F. 

1 In a most singular Order, dated January 27, 1862, the President 
ordered a general movement of land and naval forces on the 22d of 
February. 



PREPARING TO STORM FORT HENRY. 69 

Smith, who it will be remembered took one column 
from Smithland, in obedience to Grant's orders, struck 
the Tennessee River about twenty miles below Fort 
Henry. 1 "There he met Commander Phelps, of the 
Navy, with a gun-boat, patrolling the river. After a 
brief conference with that energetic officer, General 
Smith decided to get upon the gun-boat and run up 
for a look at Fort Henry. The boat steamed up 
sufficiently near to draw the enemy's fire and obtain 
a just idea of the armament of the work. Smith re- 
turned at once, and reported to General Grant his 
conviction that, with three or four of ' the turtle iron- 
clads,' and a strong cooperating land force, Fort 
Henry might be easily captured, if the attack should 
be made within a short time." Time was here of 
the utmost importance, for the enemy had planned, 
and were rapidly constructing, an imposing fortress. 
Grant immediately forwarded the report to Halleck; 
but Halleck was a slow officer. Four or five days 
elapsed without a reply, when, on the 28th of Jan- 
uary, Grant and Foote both sent dispatches to Hal- 
leck, asking permission to storm Fort Henry, and 
hold it for ulterior operations. On the 29th Grant 
wrote an urgent letter, and on the 30th, in the after- 
noon, a dispatch was received from Halleck, directing 
him to make preparations to take and hold Fort 
Henry. To do General Halleck justice, we should 
remember that he had been making a great concen- 
tration of troops, and undoubtedly intended an im- 
portant expedition. 

' Coppee's " Grant and His Campaigns " is the authority for this 
statement. 



70 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Let us now see what Fort Henry was, and how 
taken. The best account of the fort, and the attack, 
is given by the correspondent of the "Cincinnati 
Gazette," in a letter, dated February 7, 1862. His 
account of the fort is thus minutely given : 

" The fort is of the class known as a full bas- 
tioned earthwork, standing directly upon the bank of 
the river, and incloses about two acres. It mounts 
seventeen heavy guns, including one ten-inch Colum- 
biad, throwing a round shot of one hundred and 
twenty-eight pounds weight ; one breech-loading rifled 
gun, carrying a sixty-pound elongated shot ; twelve 
thirty-two-pounders ; one twenty-four-pounder rifled, 
and two twelve-pounder siege-guns. Nearly all the 
guns are pivoted, and capable of being turned in any 
desired direction. The fort is surrounded by a deep 
moat, and, when fully garrisoned, would be almost 
impregnable against any force which could be brought 
against it from the land side. Evidently its designers 
did not anticipate so formidable an attack from the 
river, and, certainly, nothing less well defended than 
our iron-clad gun-boats could have attacked it with 
any hope of success." 

The forces brought against it consisted of twenty 
regiments of infantry, one regiment of cavalry, 1 four 

1 The division under General MeClernand was composed of the 
Eighth, Eighteenth, Twenty-Seventh, Twenty-Ninth, Thirtieth, and 
Thirty-First Illinois Regiments of Infantry, making one brigade ; the 
Eleventh, Twentieth, Forty-Fifth, and Forty-Eighth, making the Second 
Brigade, with the Fourth Cavalry. The Second Division, General C. 
F. Smith, was composed of the Seventh, Ninth, Twelfth, Twenty-Eighth, 
and Forty-First Illinois Regiments; the Eleventh Indiana; the Seventh 
and Twelfth Iowa; and the Eighth and Thirteenth Missouri, with artil- 
lery and cavalry. 



LAND AND NAVAL FORCES. *]\ 

independent companies of cavalry, and four batteries 
of artillery, and others not named, attached to Smith's 
Division ; the whole formed into two divisions, un- 
der the command of Generals McClernand and C. F. 
Smith. The naval force consisted of six gun-boats, 
which had recently been built, and were now to try the 
force of their batteries. They were the Essex, Com- 
mander Porter ; the Carondelet, Commander Walke ; 
the Cincinnati, Commander Stembel ; the St. Louis, 
Lieutenant-Commanding Paulding ; the Conestoga, 
Lieutenant-Commanding Phelps ; the Tylor, Lieu- 
tenant-Commanding Gwyn ; and the Lexington, 
Lieutenant-Commanding Shirk. 

The land forces were under the command of 
Grant, and the naval, of Foote. On the 5 th of Feb- 
ruary, the whole expedition had arrived below Fort 
Henry, and Grant issued his order to commence the 
attack next morning, and make the investment at 
11, A. M. 1 It was agreed that the army should land, 
cut off the communication, and the navy attack the 
batteries in front. In fact, the army did land, and 
encamped for the night on the ridges near the fort ; 
but the navy got to work early in the morning, and 
actually captured the fort alone. The intermediate 
proceedings are thus described by the correspondent 
of the " Cincinnati Gazette : " 2 

" That night our troops, with the exception of 
General Smith's Brigade, which had crossed to the 
west side of the river, encamped on a ridge of hills 
parallel with the river, and about half a mile from it. 

1 Grant's Report to Halleck, of February 6. 

2 Rebellion Record, Vol. IV, page 70. 



72 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Their camp-fires, scattered all along the sides of the 
ridge among the trees, for more than a mile, pre- 
sented that night one of the most beautiful sights I 
have ever witnessed, and, no doubt, being observed 
by the enemy, gave the impression that our force 
was much larger than was really the case. Probably 
this might have had something to do in causing their 
precipitate flight afterward. 

" During the night, a tremendous storm arose, 
accompanied with thunder and lightning, thoroughly 
soaking the soft clay soil, and rendering locomotion, 
especially in the low grounds, almost impossible. 

"The writer moved with the troops, who started 
at II, A. M., according to the order, and were strug- 
gling along through mud, caused by the rain of the 
night before. In the mean time the gun-boats com- 
menced shelling. For some three hours we thus 
struggled along, when suddenly the roar of a heavy 
gun came booming over the hills, and another, and 
another, told us that the gun-boats had commenced 
the attack. For an instant the entire column seemed 
to halt to listen, then springing forward, we pushed 
on with redoubled vigor. But mile after mile of 
slippery hills and muddy swamps were passed over, 
and still the fort seemed no nearer. We could 
plainly hear the roar of the guns, and the whistle of 
the huge shells through the air, but the high hills 
and dense woods completely obstructed the view. 

" Suddenly the firing ceased. We listened for it 
to recommence, but all was still. We looked in each 
other's faces, and wonderingly asked : ' What does it 
mean ? Is it possible that our gun-boats have been 



FOR T HENR Y S URRENDERED. 73 

beaten back ? ' for that the rebels should abandon this 
immense fortification, on which the labor of thou- 
sands had been expended for months, after barely an 
hour's defense, and before our land troops had even 
come in sight of them, seemed too improbable to 
believe. Cautiously we pressed forward, but erelong 
one of our advance scouts came galloping back, an- 
nouncing that the rebels had abandoned the fort, 
and seemed to be forming in line of battle on the 
hills adjoining. With a cheer our boys pressed for- 
ward. Soon came another messenger, shouting that 
the enemy had abandoned their intrenchments com- 
pletely, and were now in full retreat through the 
woods." 

The battle of the gun-boats against the fort 
lasted but an hour and a quarter, in which time all 
the cannon in the fort were knocked to pieces ; its 
garrison had literally run away, escaping early in the 
morning on the road to Dover, leaving Tilghman, 
the commander, with one company of artillerists, and 
the sick. It was not till the fort was made utterly 
untenable that Tilghman hoisted the white flag and 
surrendered. The surrender was made to Commo- 
dore Foote and the Navy. Foote immediately turned 
the fort and prisoners over to General Grant. The 
official dispatch to Halleck gives • this brief account 
of the matter: 

" The gun-boats started up at the same hour to commence the at- 
tack, and engaged the enemy at not over six hundred yards. In little 
over one hour all the batteries were silenced, and the fort surrendered 
at discretion to Flag-officer Foote, giving us all their guns, camp and 
garrison equipage, etc. The prisoners taken are General Tilghman 
and staff, Captain Taylor and company, and the sick. The garrison, 

7 



74 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

I think, must have commenced their retreat last night, or at an early 
hour this morning. 

"Had I not felt it an imperative necessity to attack Fort Henry 
to-day, I should have made the investment complete, and delayed 
till to-morrow, so as to secure the garrison. I do not now believe, 
however, the result would have been any more satisfactory. 

" The gun-boats have proven themselves well able to resist a severe 
cannonading. All the iron-clad boats received more or less shots — the 
flag-ship some twenty-eight — without any serious damage to any, ex- 
cept the Essex. This vessel received one shot in her boiler that dis- 
abled her, killing and wounding some thirty-two men, Captain Porter 
among the wounded. 

" I remain your obedient servant, 

"U. S. Grant, Brigadier- General." 

The Confederate forces, which really had made 
the garrison of Fort Henry, but escaped, amounted 
to five thousand men. 1 These took the road to Do- 
ver, and subsequently made part of the garrison of 
Fort Donelson. 

Grant telegraphed to Halleck that Fort Henry 
had fallen, and added : " I shall take and destroy Fort 
Donelson on the 8th." Badeau says : 2 " This was the 
first mention of Fort Donelson, whether in conver- 
sation or dispatches, between the two commanders. 
Halleck made no reply, but notified Buell on the 7th, 
" General Grant expects to take Fort Donelson, at 
Dover, to-morrow." 

This statement of Col. Badeau, which is confirmed 
by Halleck's dispatch, is important to the true per- 
sonal history of the fall of Fort Donelson, for it is 
conclusive that Grant was the originator of the attack 
on Donelson, as C. F. Smith was of that on Fort 
Henry, by his report of the reconnoissance made by 
himself and Commander Phelps ; but, as he had been 

1 Badeau's "Military History," page 33. 2 Idem. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE VICTORY. 75 

sent out by Grant, it seems most probable that the 
original idea of this campaign belonged to Grant. 
Halleck's instructions, which were given on the 30th 
of January, were full, but they were given after 
Grant's urgent solicitations, and made no mention 
of Donelson. 

The news of the fall of Fort Henry was received 
by the country with universal joy ; President, Con- 
gress, and people rejoiced together. Nor was it 
without the best reason. Two weeks before, the 
battle of Mill Springs had been fought and won by 
Thomas. That was the first battle we had gained, 
except the affairs of Western Virginia, and great was 
the rejoicing. But that battle, it was soon seen, was 
without consequences. The advance of Zollicoffer 
was only an inroad from the enemy's general line 
of defense on the Cumberland into Kentucky. The 
defeat of his force exhilarated us with the thought 
of a victory opportune and encouraging ; but it ac- 
complished nothing. There was no fortification or 
strategic point in front, to take which would seriously 
impair their line of defense ; nor did General Thomas 
attempt any. He was satisfied to cooperate in Ken- 
tucky with the army of General Buell. The fall of 
Fort Henry was an event of totally different character. 
It was not the gaining of a battle to inspire us with 
the sounds of victory ; but it was vastly more im- 
portant. It was the gaining of a strategic point which 
ultimately involved the permanent breaking of the 
rebel line. Let the reader recollect that we were the 
invading force, and that invasion must be successful 
and conquest complete, or the unity of the nation 



j6 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

could not be restored, and the war would be a worth- 
less expense of blood and wealth. Now suppose 
(what was the real fact) that the rebels were able to 
take and keep a line of defense, which we were con- 
tinually attacking, but unable to break. While they 
were able to do this, we would never succeed. But 
now comes a time when, even without a battle, we 
have broken that line, and the sun does not rise in 
heaven with more certainty than that, if we can hold 
that broken point, we shall drive the whole line back, 
and make the campaign successful. The great public 
rejoiced because we had evident successes, when, in- 
deed, we needed them much ; but it was only the 
educated soldier, with the coup eFceil for military 
strategy, who could comprehend what the almost 
bloodless fall of Fort Henry really accomplished. 
Let the reader now come with me to far bloodier 
fields and apparently greater results, but which were 
all assured consequences of this success. 



"ALL IS %UIET ON THE POTOMAC" 'J 'J 



CHAPTER IV. 

DONELSON. 

"ALL IS QUIET ALONG THE POTOMAC" — THE SECOND UPRIS- 
ING^ THE PREPARATION — INVESTMENT OT DONELSON— 

STRENGTH OF THE FORT — REBEL ASSAULT — SMITH'S STORM 
AND CAPTURE OF THE REBEL INTRENCHMENTS — GRANT 
PROPOSES TO MOVE IMMEDIATELY ON THEIR WORKS — BUCK- 
NER'S SURRENDER — GRAND RESULTS — STRATEGY — BATTLE 
HYMN — SANITARY COMMISSION. 

IT was now near the middle of February, and the 
people had rejoiced for Mill Springs, and were 
gratified with the successes of Western Virginia ; but 
for ten long and weary months there was no break 
in the rebel lines till Fort Henry came. "All is quiet 
along the Potomac J" was the head-line of every news- 
paper, and the burden of every reporter. McClel- 
lan's army had been organized, drilled, marched and 
countermarched along the Potomac, with a check at 
Dranesville, and a bad disaster at Ball's Bluff. The 
months of November and December, with beautiful 
weather and fine roads, had passed away, with no 
action and no movement. The Army of the Po- 
tomac had gone into winter-quarters, and the year 
1 86 1 closed with no real advance in the position of 
the armies. The people were impatient and disap- 
pointed. But one thing had been done, not very 



78 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

obvious to the eye, but great in fact. It had been the 
day of preparation. Lincoln had called, not seventy- 
five thousand, but half a million of men into the field. 
They had come with the alacrity of youth going to 
the dance. Along the great rivers, in the valleys of 
the interior, in the thronged cities, the flag waved in 
the breeze and the drum-beat was heard in the air. 
There was no cessation in the uprising of the people. 
Armories were preparing rifles, muskets, and pistols, 
by the tens of thousands. Great founderies were cast- 
ing enormous cannon. The graduates of West Point, 
taunted with the treachery of their companions in the 
rebel army, every-where volunteered, and, like Grant 
at the head of the Twenty-First Illinois, were com- 
manding regiments or brigades, drilling and organ- 
izing for active war. Long after Grant had left Cairo, 
regiments were still organizing and marching to the 
field from every part of the Western States. The 
Confederate Congress no longer laughed. Richmond 
no longer exulted in a prospective march to Wash- 
ington. One fact the rebels had learned, that they 
were to have war, and war with the united energies 
of the Government and nation against them. They 
realized at last that, although their line of defense 
was yet complete, though the Southern people had 
rallied to the Confederate Government with unex- 
pected zeal, yet they had gained nothing, and the 
best to be expected for them was not peace and pros- 
perity, but a successful defense, after years of bloody 
and desolating war. How was that defense to be 
made against far superior strength and resources? 
Some of their military ideas may be learned from a 



FORT DONELSON IN 1862. 79 

speech of Mr. Davis, President of the Confederacy, 
made at the beginning of the war, at the time of 
adjourning the Confederate Congress to Richmond. 
He declared that such were the natural advantages 
of Virginia that it could be defended for twenty years. 
The advantages of Virginia, as a defensive ground, 
are unquestionable ; but what would Virginia be but 
a besieged and insulated fortification, if the lines of 
communication, west and south, and with them its 
resources, were cut off? Here was the real solution 
of the problem, and Mr. Davis, even to the last mo- 
ment, failed to see this, and utterly failed to compre- 
hend the elements of the great military question with 
which he had now to deal. Nor is it very evident 
that our own Government comprehended it better. 
For ten weary months, as I have said, no successful 
attack was made on the rebel lines ; but the prepara- 
tion was making, and perhaps that was all we could 
then accomplish. 

Now we have come to Fort Henry, and it is the 
first telling blow on the enemy's great defense. If 
no more was done, it opened the Tennessee River to 
the gun-boats. But more, much more was to be 
done. Grant had telegraphed Halleck, that he should 
attack Donelson on the 8th ; but great armies can 
not be timed to a day, and so the assault was a little 
later. Let us first see what Fort Donelson was in 
February, 1862. Near the town of Dover, on the Cum- 
berland River, two small streams run into that river, 
whose mouths were about a mile and a quarter apart, 
but in the rear were separated by three miles. The 
whole intermediate space, as well as that around 



SO LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Dover, was a " conglomerate of hills and valleys, 
knolls and ravines." 1 The little streams formed the 
right and left defenses of the rebel line, which ex- 
tended nearly three miles, and was strongly in- 
trenched. 2 Within these were detached works and 
secondary lines, one of which extended round the 
town of Dover, and part of which commanded the 
outer line. Then there were rivulets, gullies, ravines, 
woods, and natural obstacles of all kinds. On some 
of the commanding hills were posted light batteries, 
and on the water side below, where a bend enabled 
them to command the river, were placed heavy water 
batteries. The main fort, says Badeau, 3 was built 
on a precipitous hight, or rather range, cloven by a 
deep gorge opening to the south ; it was about three 
quarters of a mile from the breastworks, and over- 
looked both the river and the interior. It covered 
one hundred acres of ground, and was defended by 
fifteen heavy guns and two carronades. 

The lower or main water battery, which was built 
with massive parapets and embrasures, formed of 
coffee sacks filled with sand, was armed with eight 
thirty-two pound guns, and one ten-inch Columbiad. 
The other water battery was armed with one heavy 
rifled gun, carrying a hundred and twenty-eight 
pound bolt, and two thirty-two pound carronades. 4 

It is very evident, from this description, that 
Donelson was one of the strongest fortified points 
held by the rebels during the war, and at this time 
altogether the strongest. Its natural defenses were 

1 Coppee's description. 3 Badeau's Military History, page 37. 

5 Badeau's description. A Coppee's Grant, page 50. 






ESTIMATE OF REBEL COMMANDERS. 8 1 

very great ; the works were extensive, and were fully 
armed and manned. In addition to the armament 
already described, there were six light batteries, mak- 
ing in all sixty-five cannon ; and the garrison was 
composed of full twenty-one thousand men. 1 The 
five thousand men who left Fort Henry were there, 
and strong reinforcements were received from Bowl- 
ing Green. The garrison was composed of thirteen 
regiments from Tennessee ; two from Kentucky ; two 
from Alabama ; six from Mississippi ; one from Texas ; 
four from Virginia ; two independent battalions of 
Tennessee infantry ; Forrest's Brigade of Cavalry, 
and the artillerists necessary to man all the batteries. 
It has since been ascertained, that the total number 
was at least twenty-one thousand. Such was Donel- 
son ; strong by nature, admirably fortified, and fully 
manned. Yet, Donelson wanted one thing, which is 
certainly of the greatest importance to an army. It 
wanted a General! The commander of the South- 
Western Department, for the rebels, was A. Sydney 
Johnston, a man who is mentioned by all with respect, 
and was supposed to have the best military mind in 
the rebel army. Unfortunately for the rebel army, 
he did not command at Fort Donelson. Still more 
unfortunately, the actual commander was Floyd, who 
was respected by few, and died with no better name 
than he had lived. He was not only a traitor, says 
Professor Coppee, but believed to be dishonest, and 
proved to be a coward. But worse than even all this 
for the rebels, he was no general, and in truth pos- 
sessed of little military capacity. The next in com- 

1 Badeau, page 51, note. 



$2 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

mand was Pillow, who was more honest, but no less 
ignorant than Floyd. The third was Buckner, who 
did know something of the military art, and although 
an early and persistent traitor, was brave and intelli- 
gent. Such was Donclson and its defenders. Let 
us now follow the attack. 

The attack was to have been made on the 8th ; 
but the roads were impassable for artillery, and heavy 
rains so flooded the country that no movement could 
be made, and Grant wrote, "We are perfectly locked 
in." During the days of waiting, reinforcements were 
brought in from Buell's command, and from Hunter 
in Missouri. 1 General Halleck, commander of the 
district in which Grant was, did not seem very much 
impressed with the possibility of advancing, for his 
orders were defensive. 2 He said : " Hold on to Fort 
Henry at all events. Impress slaves, if necessary, to 
strengthen your position as rapidly as possible. It is 
of vital importance to strengthen your position as 
rapidly as possible." It is always of importance to 
strengthen the position of an army ; so much so, 
that good officers will throw up some light timber, or 
abatis, before their encampment at night. But the 
thing to be done just now is to take Fort Donelson, 
and let us do it. As we march up, let us note, that 
by Halleck's order, it seems, the slaves had ceased 
to be an object of worship, sacred to treason, and 
protected by the Constitution. They can now be 

1 Halleck, in a complimentary acknowledgment, said, that when he 
wanted troops to reenforce Grant, he applied to Hunter, who cheerfully 
supplied them. 

2 Liadeau, page 36. 






INVESTMENT OF DONELSON. 83 

impressed to serve the country ; that is one step 
gained. 

But let us go on. Grant stopped for neither re- 
enforcements, nor shovels, nor orders. On the 10th 
he writes to Foote that he is only waiting for the 
gun-boats. 1 " I feel that there should be no delay in 
this matter, and yet I do not feel justified in going 
without some of your gun-boats to cooperate. Can 
you not send two boats from Cairo immediately up 
the Cumberland?" News had now come that the 
rebels were reenforcing Fort Donelson ; every hour 
was of importance. On the nth Foote with his fleet 
started by the Ohio and Cumberland. Six regiments 
of troops, all that were ready, went with him. On the 
nth McClernand's Division moved out on two roads, 
and on the 12th the main column, fifteen thousand 
strong, marched from Fort Henry, leaving a garrison 
of twenty-five hundred there. 2 There were but few 
wagons and few rations, but the men carried forty 
rounds of cartridges. To prevent all retreat of the 
enemy one brigade was ordered to be thrown into 
Dover. The distance to march was twelve miles, and 
a little after noon Grant's army appeared in front of 
the fort. The first line was formed in open fields 
opposite the enemy's center. The left rested on 
Hickman Creek, and the line reached round to near 
Dover on the right. The overflow of waters pre- 
vented the completion of the line, but Donelson was 
practically invested. 3 

Thursday, the 13th, was occupied in reconnoiter- 
ing, skirmishing, and taking positions. McClernand 

1 Badeau, page 35. 2 Idem, page 36. 3 Idem, page 38. 



84 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

attempted to capture a battery commanding the 
ridge road, but without orders, and was unsuccessful. 
In this day's work about three hundred were killed 
and wounded. The results were, that on the night 
of the 13th Grant was "established on a line of 
bights in general parallel with the enemy's works, 
and extending for a distance of over three miles." 1 
Here we note two things of great interest in the 
siege, and which might have proved fatal. First, 
Grant found he was actually inferior to the enemy 
while besieging him. For some reason, not very 
obvious, the rebel general had not obstructed his 
march from Fort Henry, nor endeavored to obstruct 
his taking his position. Nevertheless, Grant found 
he had got into that position with a force inferior to 
that of the enemy. He immediately sent for the 
garrison of Fort Henry, and anxiously expected the 
fleet with reinforcements. In the mean while (on 
Thursday) a single gun-boat undertook a little battle 
on her own account. The correspondent of the " New 
York Times" says: "During the time that the land 
forces were engaged, the iron-clad gun-boat Caron- 
delet went up and singly engaged the rebel batteries. 
She fired one hundred and two shots, and received 
no great damage in all the tremendous fire to which 
she was exposed, save in the case of a single shot. 
This, a monster mass of iron, weighing at least one 
hundred and twenty-eight pounds, entered one of 
her forward ports, and, wounding eight men in its 
passage, dashed with terrific force against the breast- 
work of coal-bags in front of the boilers, and there 

1 Badeau, page 40. 



SUFFERINGS OF OUR ARMY. 85 

was stopped. Soon after this she retired from the 
unequal contest, having covered herself with glory 
for having so long singly withstood the enormous 
force of the rebels' entire water-battery. 1 

But a second event occurred which, if not danger- 
ous to the army, was very severe upon the men. 
This was extreme cold. It was one of the coldest 
nights ever known in that region. Some of the men 
had thrown away their blankets. They could build 
no fires, for they were obliged to bivouac in line of 
battle, with arms in their hands, as they were within 
point-blank musket-range of the enemy. 2 Some of 
the men on both sides were frozen, while the wounded, 
who lay between the armies in that midnight cold, 
made the air resound with their cries. Such were 
the sufferings of our noble volunteers, who, encamped 
on the Cumberland, shivering in the cold, and in 
sight of a superior enemy, yet looked forward to the 
battle with confidence, and not in vain, to a coming 
victory. 

The night was thus passing, in the cold and gloom 
of winter, when, before daylight, Commodore Foote 
with the fleet came up, and the troops from Fort 
Henry, under Lewis Wallace, arrived, and were put in 
line. Friday, the 14th, went on with some skirmish- 
ing, an irregular fire of sharp-shooters, and the rebel 
shells falling into our line. At three o'clock, P. M., 
six gun-boats, four of them iron-clad, attacked the 
fort, but the batteries were heavy, had complete 
command of the river, and the attack was disastrous. 

•Rebellion Record, Vol. IV, page 172. 
2 Badeau, page 40. 



86 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

The correspondent of the " New York Times " thus 
describes it : 

" I secured a position about half-way between the 
boats and fort, a little out of the line of fire, and 
there, for two hours, had the pleasure of listening to a 
concert of the most gigantic order. At first the roar 
from fort and boats was unbroken for a single in- 
stant, so rapid was the firing, while the air high over- 
head seemed filled with a million of hissings, as the 
heavy storm of shells tore furiously ahead on their 
mission of destruction. In about half an hour the 
fire from the fort began to slacken, and shortly after 
was continued from only three guns — the rest ap- 
parently having been silenced by our fire. At this 
time the boats were within some four hundred yards, 
and were on the point of using grape-shot, when a 
shot disabled the steering apparatus of the Louisville, 
by carrying off the top of the wheel-house, and knock- 
ing the wheel itself into fragments. There was a tiller 
aft, and this was instantly taken possession of by the 
pilot, but he had scarcely reached it ere the rudder 
was carried away by a shot from the Tylor. Of 
course the boat became instantly unmanageable, and 
swung around, receiving a shot in the wood-work to- 
ward the stern, which, I believe, wounded several 
seamen. Under these circumstances it was thought 
best to retire, and accordingly the whole fleet fell 
back to the position it had occupied in the morning." 1 

In fact, four of the six gun-boats were disabled ; 
the tiller of one and the wheel of another were shot 
away ; a rifled gun burst upon a third, and a fourth 

1 Rebellion Record, Vol. IV, page 172. 



REE N FOR CEMENTS RECEIVED. 87 

was greatly damaged ; and more, Commodore Foote 
was wounded. At midnight he sent for Grant, and 
told him that the fleet must put back to Cairo, and 
advised him to remain quiet till he returned. On 
that day Grant had himself written : " Appearances 
now are that we shall have a protracted siege here. 
I fear the result of an attempt to carry the place by 
storm with new troops. I feel quite confident, how- 
ever, of ultimately reducing the place." Even the 
sturdy and persistent mind of Grant doubted at this 
time whether Donelson could be immediately reduced. 
Events were, however, shaping themselves to another 
and a better result than he had anticipated. 

The night of the 14th, Friday, was again severely 
cold. There was a storm of sleet and snow, and the 
wearied soldier had to endure the sufferings of another 
dreary night. In the mean time reenforcements had 
begun to come, and Grant's army had got to be equal, 
if not superior, to that of the enemy. Wallace, 
who had come up from Fort Henry, was put at the 
head of a Third Division, Gomposed of the troops he 
had brought, and others coming in. This division 
was put in the center, just fronting Donelson. Now, 
if the reader look toward the river, with the fort in 
front of him, he will see C. F. Smith's Division on 
the left, or hights above Hickman Creek, which is 
impassable by fording, Wallace next, in the center, 
and on the right McClernand's Division. Grant's 
head-quarters were at Mrs. Crops's, just behind Smith. 
Such was the situation on the night of the 14th; and 
it has been justly remarked by a military critic, 1 that 

1 Coppee, page 57. 



88 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

if the rebel commander had been contented with the 
defensive, and strengthened his position, we might 
have been compelled to go through with a regular 
siege. This was Grant's view the day before, but 
such was not Floyd's idea. He found himself with 
forces about equal to Grant's, and with stronger de- 
fenses, and knew that our army was constantly being 
reenforced ; so, with the aid of a Council of War, he 
determined to attack our lines. 

At five o'clock on Saturday morning, the 15th, the 
rebels poured out of Donelson in heavy columns to 
attack, and, if possible, crush McClernand. If suc- 
cessful, it would have placed our army in a dangerous 
position, and probably compelled its retreat. The 
battle which ensued was bloody and decisive. Let 
us follow its fiery and dreadful scenes, as described 
by one who saw them. 1 

The columns advanced by the enemy amounted 
in all to ten thousand men, with thirty pieces of artil- 
lery. It seemed as if it must be successful, and, if so, 
would drive our right and center back upon Smith, 
on the left, and make it difficult for our army to ex- 
tricate itself. 2 Reveille was just sounding, the troops 

1 The account given in extracts is from the correspondent of the 
" New York Times," which is very graphic and interesting. 

2 The statement of force is given by Coppee thus: "Such were 
Floyd's plans ; they were to be tried with the early morning of Satur- 
day, the 15th. Accordingly, at 5, A. M., the rebel column, under Pil- 
low and Johnston moved out from Dover, the advance being taken by 
Colonel Baldwin's Brigade, composed of the First and Fourteenth Mis- 
sissippi, and the Twenty-Sixth Tennessee. These were followed by 
Wharton's Brigade, of two regiments; McCousland's, of two; David- 
son's, of three ; Drake's, of five ; and other troops, amounting in all to 
ten thousand men, with thirty guns, which were to crush McClernand, 
and clear a pathway through our right." 



THE FIGHT AT DONELSON. 89 

were under arms, but in utter ignorance of the ene- 
my's designs. The right was obviously threatened, 
and the commanders of regiments and brigades, 
changing front a little, rapidly got their men into 
line. On the right was McArthur's Brigade; then 
Oglesby and Wallace ; on the left of the Fort Henry 
road was Cruft's. It was not too soon, for, in a few 
minutes, the rebel column poured down on McArthur. 
The eye-witness says : 

" The fight raged from daylight till nearly noon, 
without a moment's cessation, and resulted in the 
enemy's being driven back to his intrenchments. 
The battle-ground extended over a space some two 
miles in length, every inch of which was the witness 
of a savage conflict. The rebels fought with the 
most determined bravery, and seemed bent upon 
breaking through the right wing at any cost. They 
poured against our lines a perfect flood, and it was 
only by a bravery that equaled their own, and a 
resolute determination to conquer that outlasted their 
efforts, that our gallant soldiers were at length ena- 
bled to stay the fierce tide, and finally to hurl it back 
to its former boundaries. Our men determined that 
they would win, and win they did, with a gallantry 
that entitles every man to the name of hero. 

" The whole of the fight was of the most terrific 
character. Without a single moment's cessation, the 
rebels poured into our forces perfect torrents of can- 
ister, shell, and round-shot, while their thousands of 
riflemen hurled in a destructive fire from every bush, 
tree, log, or obstruction of any kind that afforded 
shelter. The roar of the battle was like that of a 



90 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

heavy tornado, as it sweeps through some forest on 
its mission of destruction. Small arms kept up an 
incessant cracking, mingling with which came up 
occasionally the roar of company or division firing, 
while over all came every moment or two the reso- 
nant thunders of the batteries." 

So raged the battle ; and for a time the advan- 
tage was with the enemy. Oglesby and McArthur 
gut out of ammunition ;' they were obliged to fall 
back ; but they retreated between columns of fresh 
troops, coming to the rescue, and, when they retired, 
formed a new line facing to the south. But the 
advancing rebels were all the time terribly received 
by the light batteries of McAllister, Taylor, and 
Draper. Posted on the hights, and shifting their 
positions to suit the circumstances, they continually 
poured in a heavy fire of grape and canister, and 
again and again the enemy's lines recoiled. The 
rebel troops did not display in their first attack the 
best order and skill. Buckner had come out to 
attack our new position; his attack was repulsed; 
and he said his regiments "withdrew without panic, 
but in some confusion, to the trenches." Neverthe- 
less, the rebels had, in the main, been successful. 
They had driven back our forces into a new position. 
Some of our officers were demoralized, and Pillow 
sent to Nashville a dispatch that the day was theirs; 
and he thought so. But his new attack failed. He 
moved upon Thayer's Brigade; "but by their im- 

i This very thing had been foreseen by Grant, and he had written to 
Halleck for more supplies of ammunition. General Cullum, at Cairo, 

sent all he could. 



DECISIVE ORDER OF THE DAT. 9 1 

flinching stand and deliberate fire, and especially by 
the firmness of the First Nebraska, and the excellent 
handling of the artillery, he was now repulsed." ' We 
need not pursue in detail the attacks, repulses, move- 
ments, and vicissitudes on the right. It was a hard- 
fought field, and here more strikingly than had yet 
appeared, shone out the true character and valor of 
the Western volunteer. In cold, with men freezing 
on their posts, and the storm of battle raging around, 
there was no flinching, no impatience. 

But where was Grant ? What were his plans ? 
What was he doing ? Grant's head-quarters, as I 
have said, were at Crops's house, in the rear of Smith, 
and a long way from the immediate field of battle we 
have now been tracing out. But now is the time to 
bring out his military resources, if he has them. This 
is no small fight, no Belmont, not even Fort Henry. 
It is a crushing battle, and if we fail, it may be a long 
time before we shall break that long line of rebel 
defense, which stretches from Manassas to Columbus. 
At two o'clock in the morning, he had been to visit 
the wounded Foote, and to consult with him on the 
future operations of the fleet. It had got to be nine 
o'clock, when he returned to head-quarters, where he 
was met by an aid-de-camp, galloping up to inform 
him of the assault on the right, which was the first 
information he had of it. He next met C. F. Smith, 
commanding the left, and ordered him to hold him- 
self in readiness to assault the right, with his whole 
command. 2 This was the decisive order of the day, 
and the reader will see its true meaning. In any 

1 Coppee's " Grant and his Campaigns." 2 Badeau, page 44. 



Q2 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

event, if our right was defeated, it was necessary to 
hold Smith in readiness ; but, on the other hand, if 
the enemy were repulsed on our right, then was the 
decisive moment. The advance of Smith's command 
to a counter attack on the enemy's right, after the 
enemy had been repulsed, would in all probability be 
successful. Grant then rode to the point where the 
fight was. The rebels had failed to make their way, 
and were doggedly retiring. Still our troops, also, 
were disordered ; the ammunition had given out, and 
the loss of field officers was unusually large. Ba- 
deau says : 

" There was no pursuit, and the battle was merely 
lulled, not ended. The men, like all raw troops, im- 
agined the enemy to be in overwhelming force, and 
reported that the rebels had come out with knap- 
sacks and haversacks, as if they meant to stay out 
and fight for several days. Grant at once inquired, 
'Are the haversacks filled?' Some prisoners were 
examined, and the haversacks found to contain three 
days' rations. ' Then they mean to cut their way 
out ; they have no idea of staying here to fight us ;' 
and, looking at his own disordered men, not yet 
recovered from the shock of battle, Grant exclaimed, 
'Whichever party first attacks now will whip, and 
the rebels will have to be very quick if they beat 
me."" 

This illustrates the true point of Grant's military 
genius. Perfectly self-possessed, even in apparently 
adverse circumstances, persistent in his purpose, he 
held it a primary principle to be cotistcuitly pouring 

1 Badcau, page 45. 



GEN. C. F. SMITH'S CHARGE. 93 

his whole force upon the enemy. This possibly might 
not have been best in some kinds of war, but it was 
best here, and best always with the rebels. Riding 
at once to the left, where the troops had not been 
engaged, he ordered an immediate assault. As he 
passed along he assured the broken troops that the 
attack of the morning was only an attempt of the 
rebels to cut their way out. The troops caught the 
idea, re-formed, and went to the front. 

It was now Smith's turn. He is organizing his 
columns for a terrible onset. Cook's Brigade is on 
the left, Cavender's batteries are in the rear to the 
right and left, so as to fire on the intrenchments ; but 
the attacking column is Lauman's Brigade, formed 
in close column of regiments, and it is right to re- 
member these gallant regiments. They were the 
Second Iowa, the Seventh and the Fourteenth Iowa, 
and the Twenty-Fifth and Fifty-Second Indiana. 
While this is going on, Wallace has formed the 
troops again on the right, and in the end we see has 
regained all the positions from which we were driven 
in the morning. And now comes that glorious 
charge of Smith on the intrenchments of Donelson. 
Before advancing he rides to the front, and tells the 
men he will lead them, and that the rifle-pits must be 
taken by the bayonet. At the signal Smith rides in 
advance, with the color-bearer beside him. He is 
near sixty years of age, with gray hair, and com- 
manding figure. His advance is thus described by 
Coppee : 

" Not far has he moved before his front line is 
swept by the enemy's artillery with murderous effect. 



94 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

His men waver for a moment, but their General, 
sublime in his valor, reminds them, in caustic words, 
that while he, as an old regular, is in the line of his 
professional duty, this is what they have volunteered 
to do. With oaths and urgency, his hat waving upon 
the point of his sword, by the splendor of his exam- 
ple he leads them on through this valley of death, up 
the slope, through the abatis, up to the intrench- 
ment — and over. With a thousand shouts they plant 
their standards on the captured works, and pour in 
volley after volley, before which the rebels fly in pre- 
cipitate terror. Battery after battery is brought for- 
ward, Stone's arriving first, and then a direct and 
enfilading fire is poured upon the flanks and faces of 
the work. Four hundred of Smith's gallant column 
have fallen, but the charge is decisive. Grant's tac- 
tics and Smith's splendid valor have won the day." 

The battle was won. The rebels now fought only 
for darkness. That night Grant slept in a negro 
hut, and Smith, with his troops, on the frozen 
ground, within the enemy s works. But Floyd and 
Pillow were engaged in a different way. They were 
both contriving how they could save their necks ; 
for, although our Government hanged no traitors, 
they had an anxious fear that somebody might be 
hanged, and they had a suspicion that they were very 
fitting persons to be made examples of. So Floyd, 
in a council of his officers, declared he should desert 
the troops, and Pillow declared the same.' In the 

1 Badeau, page 47. In a Supplementary Report made by Floyd to 
the rebel War Department he had the audacity to say: "The boat on 
which I was, left the shore and steered up the river. »By this precise 
mode I effected my escape, and after leaving the wharf, the Depart- 



GRANT'S TERMS OF SURRENDER. 95 

night time both these officers, with some three thou- 
sand men, escaped by the aid of boats. Buckner was 
left to surrender his army, and in the morning hoisted 
the white flag on Fort Donelson. He told Floyd the 
garrison could not hold out half an hour, and when 
that worthy left him in command, he immediately 
sent a messenger to Grant, asking terms of capitula- 
tion. Buckner said that, " in consideration of all the 
circumstances, he proposed to the Federal commander 
to appoint commissioners to agree upon terms of 
capitulation." To this Grant made the memorable 
reply : "No terms other than an unconditional and im- 
mediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move 
immediately up07i your works." ' 

We need not recite the mere details of a victory. 
Fifteen thousand prisoners, sixty-five cannon, twenty 

ment will be pleased to hear, that I encountered no danger whatever from 
the enemy.'''' 

1 The following is the actual correspondence, which should be pre- 
served in history, as an example of prompt, pointed, and laconic nego- 
tiation : 

" Head-quarters, Fort Donelson, February 16, 1862. 
" Sir — In consideration of all the circumstances governing the present 
situation of affairs at this station, I propose to the commanding officer 
of the Federal forces the appointment of commissioners to agree upon 
terms of capitulation of the forces and fort under my command, and in 
that view suggest an armistice until twelve o'clock to-day. 
" I am sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"S. B. Buckner, Brigadier-General, C. S. A. 

"Head-quarters, Army in the Field,) 
" Camp fiear Donelson, February 16, 1862. ) 

"To General S. B. Buckner, Confederate Army: 

"Yours of this date, proposing an armistice and appointment of 

commissioners to settle terms of capitulation, is just received. No terms 

other than an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I 

propose to move immediately upon your works. 

" I am sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"U. S. Grant, Brigadier-General U. S. A., commanding.'' 1 



96 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

thousand small arms, and the strongest fortification 
in the West, were the present fruits of the capture of 
Fort Donelson. The siege had lasted four days, all 
but one of which were days of fighting. Of the losses, 
it seems that, comparing both accounts, four thousand, 
five hundred men were killed, wounded, or disabled, 
making very nearly one-tenth part of those engaged. 

On the morning of the surrender Grant rode over 
to Buckner's quarters. They had been together at 
West Point, and now breakfasted together on the 
banks of the Cumberland, in the most singular and 
interesting circumstances. Buckner acknowledged it 
had been the intention of the rebel commander to 
cut their way out. In the course of the conversation 
he alluded to Grant's inferior force at the beginning 
of the siege, and remarked : '* If I had been in com- 
mand you would n't have reached Fort Donelson so 
easily." To which Grant replied : " If you had been 
in command I should have waited for reinforcements, 
and marched from Fort Henry in greater strength ; 
but I knew that Pillow would not come out of his 
works to fight, and told my staff so, though I believed 
he would fight behind his works." 1 

The characters of Floyd and Pillow were too well 
known to our commander to excite any dread of 
their achievements. Military critics agree, I believe, 
that Floyd ought to have obstructed Grant's march 
from Fort Donelson, and to have made the assault 
on him before Wallace and fresh troops came up. 
He arrived before the place with only fifteen thou- 
sand men, some six or eight thousand less than the 

• Badeau, page 50. 



RESULTS OF THE VICTOR T. 97 

rebels had, but on the last day of the fight he had 
twenty- seven thousand available men, and reenforce- 
ments constantly arriving. After that, all idea of an 
attack upon him was absurd. 

Now, what were the results of the capture of Fort 
Donelson ? The capture of Fort Henry was the key 
to the taking of Donelson ; but what did the capture 
of both do? In the view of the great public, an 
event like that of Donelson is looked on simply as a 
victory, so many killed, and so many prisoners, and 
the place captured. This is ground for triumph ; and 
so the people did triumph. Flags were raised on 
every house and hill ; streets were filled with rejoic- 
ing people; thanksgivings were made; and in the 
Churches, te dcum laudamus x was sung. The rejoic- 
ing was great ; the moral effect was great ; the hearts 
of the people were strengthened, and the rebels were 
startled, 2 if not dismayed, by the fact first brought 
stunningly to their minds, that they had war, bloody 
war, on their hands, as the result of their awful crime, 
not only against their Government, but against the 
common hopes and interests of mankind, all involved 
in the success of the American Government. Such 
was the moral result of that conflict, and perhaps no 
event in the war had in that respect a greater effect. 
But what was the military result ? Relatively, it was 
even greater. Great battles have often been fought, 
and produced no practical effect on the contest. But 
Donelson was decisive of grand results. I have 

1 Te Deum (Thee, O God, we praise,) was always sung in the French 
cathedrals, on obtaining a victory. 

2 See " Richmond Dispatch," " Charleston Courier," and other rebel 
papers. 

Q 



98 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

already traced the strategic line of rebel defense ; its 
right rested on Manassas, and its left on the Missis- 
sippi, at Columbus. 1 Intermediate were the Valley 
of Virginia, Cumberland Gap, Knoxville, Bowling 
Green, Forts Henry and Donelson. Now, the reader 
will see that, if any one of the important points in 
this line was taken, that those on each side would be, 
in military phrase, "flanked" and if a position is 
flanked, it compels either a change of front and 
stronger force, or an abandonment of the position. 
Donelson flanked Columbus and Bowling Green, two 
of the most important points in the whole rebel line. 
It did more ; it opened the Cumberland, so that 
Nashville must fall ; and it opened the Tennessee, so 
that ultimately we could command North Alabama ; 
and rendered it almost impossible for the rebels to 
hold a second line, which must necessarily be, from 
Memphis, on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. 
What did happen ? Events followed in precisely tJie 
logical sequence of a problem strategically solved. 
The public looked on, and rejoiced in astonishment, 
not at all conscious that these events were an inev- 
itable result of the fall of Donelson. 

Let us follow these events by dates, and see how 
beautifully this strategic problem was solved. The 
battle of Mill Springs, though in itself unimportant, 
shook the rebels' faith in their power to hold Bowling 
Green ; and when Fort Henry fell they knew, that 
though there might be a protracted siege at Donel- 

1 The Trans-Mississippi War never was of any importance to the 
rebels, and, below Missouri, of no importance to us. This was the 
opinion <>l" General Joe Johnston, and will be obvious on a review of 
the war. 



CHANGE OF DEFENSES. 99 

son, yet the probability was it must fall. Buell's 
army, strong and well organized, was advancing on 
its front, and now Fort Donelson is besieged. They 
waited till it was invested, and then, on the 14th of 
February, they evacuated Bowling Green. On the 
morning of the 15th, the very day of the bloody 
battle at Donelson, Mitchel's Division entered Bowl- 
ing Green, 1 called by the rebels the "Gibraltar of 
Kentucky." 

The city of Nashville was surrendered on the 
25th, and occupied by the Fourth Ohio Cavalry, 
Colonel John Kennett. Columbus was evacuated on 
March 4th, of which General Cullum (writing to 
McClellan) justly says: "Columbus, the Gibraltar of 
the West, is ours, and Kentucky is free, thanks to 
the brilliant strategy of the campaign by which the 
enemy's center was pierced at Fort Henry and Don- 
elson, his wings isolated from each other and turned, 
compelling thus the evacuation of his stronghold of 
Bowling Green first, and now Columbus." 2 But, 
stranger still, on March nth, Manassas was evacua- 
ted. Was that caused by the capture of Donelson ? 
In part it certainly was. First, Beauregard was 
obliged to fly to the West with fifteen thousand of 
the army of Manassas, in order to take a new line, 
and make it possible to defend it. Thus the old line 
of rebel defense was abandoned, except in the center, 
jwhere the Valley of Virginia offered natural defenses, 
unapproachable till we were ready for a new advance. 

1 Y. S., of the " Cincinnati Gazette," describes its capture in a very 
interesting manner. 

2 Cullum's Report, March 4th. 



IOO L/FE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

The rebel tight now took the Valley of the Rappa- 
hannock in the East, and from Memphis to Chatta- 
nooga in the West. It is true that, often during the 
war, the rebels penetrated, by raids great or small, to 
the Potomac and the Ohio, but never to stay — never 
to take an advanced line. Donelson, Nashville, Bowl- 
ing Green, Columbus, Manassas — all were gone ! 
The rebel line in the West was thrown back two 
hundred miles, with Kentucky and Tennessee gained 
to the Union territory. Thus Donelson was a great 
and a decisive event. I always thought its value in 
the elements of the war was underrated, both by 
military critics and by the general public. The pub- 
lic rejoiced most heartily, but, of course, did not fully 
comprehend the strategic bearings of that event, while 
military men have been looking at the grander, but 
not better fought, battles of a later period. 

But what is thought of Grant? He is acting 
under the general supervision of Halleck ; but Hal- 
leck was not present, and does not seem, by any pub- 
lished evidence, to have conceived the plan. He did 
all he could to furnish reinforcements, and aided the 
expedition as much as he could. But Halleck had a 
very cautious and not very quick mind, and it is 
curious to see how, when Grant had won Fort Don- 
elson, and the rebel armies were in full retreat from 
all their great posts, Halleck telegraphs Grant to be 
cautious. "Avoid any general engagement with 
strong forces. It will be better to retreat than to 
risk a general battle.'" Why, he had just fought the 
most dangerous battle he could fight, and the rebels 
' » Ilalleck's Telegram to Grant, dated St. Louis, March ist. 



STANTON'S ESTIMATE OF GRANT. 10 1 

were in hot haste retreating from every point in their 
whole line ! If the ideas of Halleck had prevailed, 
the war would have lasted ten years, if the parties 
to it had not died of exhaustion in the mean time. 
Far different was the view taken by Stanton, the 
War Secretary, who, with no military education, never- 
theless had the true coup d'ceil of a soldier. He saw 
that, with the rebel contempt (real or professed) for 
the North, and their swagger and dash, there must 
be an earnest, bloody, and persevering war. 

On the 20th of February he wrote to some one: 
"We may well rejoice at the recent victories, for they 
teach us that battles are to be won now, and by us, 
in the same and only manner that they were ever won 
by any people, or in any age, since the days of Joshua, 
by boldly pursuing and striking the foe. What, under 
the blessing of Providence, I conceive to be the true 
organization of victory and military combination to 
end this war, was declared in a few words, by General 
Grant's message to General Buckner \ ' I propose to 
move immediately on your works.' This was the 
beginning of a support bestowed by the Secretary of 
War on the Western general, which was never inter- 
mitted, while the need of that support remained." ' 

"/ propose to move immediately o?i your works!* 
That was, henceforth, the motto of the war. Was it 
not hard that, in its own bosom, in its own house- 
hold, among its own children, the nation should be 
compelled to have this awful conflict, filled with sor- 
row, darkness, suffering? It seems to me, even, as 
I write now, when the scenes of peace have returned, 

1 Badeau, page 54. 



102 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

and the verdure of prosperity is springing up afresh, 
that it was a very hard thing for this young nation 
to have and to do. Why should these scenes exist? 
Why should the earth be covered with blood? Be- 
cause it is a law of Providence that the sins of nations 
should be punished on earth, and in their own grow- 
ing life. So it has been with every nation, and so it 
is with Christianity itself. The Gospel announced 
the law of Peace; but was it to bring peace to the 
nations? Christ announced that it would bring divi- 
sions, and that wars and convulsions would come, till 
his kingdom was established. Was it not so? Has 
not every nation in Europe been convulsed with wars 
in its own bosom? While they retained in them- 
selves antagonistic elements, this was inevitable. We 
had a vast antagonism of elements, and there was no 
wisdom to get rid of that antagonism till one of them 
was destroyed. It was a necessity of nature and a 
law of Providence. One thing we might have done. 
We might have destroyed the unity of the nation, 
and filled this North American Continent with several 
nations. What would we have saved? One war, to 
make a hundred. Great calamities are thus, in the 
order of Divine Providence, made the seeds of a fruit- 
ful prosperity. We had come to the time when there 
must be preached a fiery Gospel, but not a Gospel 
without its salutary teachings, not without its part in 
the great campaign of Truth, marching on to an 
Eternal victory. 

" Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord : 
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; 
He hath loused the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword : 

His truth is marching on. 



SANITARY COMMISSION. 103 

• I have seen him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps ; 
They have builded him an altar in the evening dews and damps ; 
I have read his righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps : 

His day is marching on. 

I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel : 
' As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal ; 
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel, 

Since God is marching on.' " ' 

The fiery Gospel went on, through stormy battles, 
and through damp disease, till antagonism ceased, 
and the star of peace returned. In the mean time, 
was there no other scene than that of blood? Was 
there no sound but the trumpet call ? Was there no 
kindly office to be performed, which would lead the 
mind from the passions of destruction to those of 
healing and comfort ? 

Scarcely had the war begun, or the echoes of 
Sumpter died away, when a gathering of American 
women asked, " What can we do ?" Are there no 
functions for us to perform, which will encourage 
or strengthen, comfort or heal ? The answer came 
from their hearts: "We will go to work. We will 
make gloves, and comforts, and bandages for wounds ; 
for, by and by, these gallant soldiers will be sick 
and wounded." 

On the 20th of April, 1861, five days after the 
surrender of Sumpter, the " Soldiers' Aid Society, of 
Cleveland " was formed by the ladies ; and then began 
the great Sanitary Commission. Time passed on, 
and it grew up into a great benevolent institution. 
It fell to the lot of the Cincinnati Branch of the 
Sanitary Commission, in conjunction with those of 

1 " Battle Hymn of the Republic," by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe. 



104 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Louisville and St. Louis, to do most of the sanitary- 
work for the Western armies. The battle of Fort 
Donelson made not only an era of the war, but an 
era in the work of the Sanitary Commission. The 
news of the fall of Donelson was received at Cincin- 
nati, on the morning of February 16, 1862, and the 
Board of Commissioners immediately met, 1 and ceased 
not their labors till steamboats had been chartered, 
surgeons and nurses employed, and every possible 
means supplied to bring home and provide for the 
wounded and the sick. The messengers of mercy 
were continually in motion ; and, by the consent of 
General Halleck, hundreds of the wounded were 
brought to Cincinnati, and carried to the hospitals. 
The aid societies provided for the Commission ; and 
the Commission provided for the wounded ; and thus 
the work of mercy went on. The silver lining was 
seen on the cloud, amid the flashes of the storm and 
the darkness of the night. 

1 Mansfield's History of the Cincinnati Sanitary Commission. 



THE AMERICAN VOLUNTEER. 1 05 



CHAPTER V. 

SHILOH. 

THE AMERICAN VOLUNTEER — ATTEMPT TO CENSURE GRANT — 
ITS FAILURE, AND HIS PROMOTION — PREPARATIONS AT 
PITTSBURG LANDING BATTLE OF SHILOH — A GREAT VIC- 
TORY — MILITARY CRITICS — GRANT VINDICATED — THE 
OBJECT OF THE BATTLE — AND THE RESULTS. 

THE fall of Donelson, of Nashville, of Columbus, 
and Bowling Green, made a most brilliant cam- 
paign ; but the year was just begun, and more work, 
equally decisive, was to be done, both in the field 
and in the camps at home. The last, though accom- 
panied by no voice of Fame, was the most important. 
Lincoln had called for half a million of men, months 
before, and they were continually gathering to the 
camps, where they must be organized, drilled, and 
fitted for the march. This required time. In the 
mean while the country presented the finest examples 
of heroic patriotism history had ever recorded. The 
American Volunteer was a being which the mod- 
ern world had not produced. Such a soldier had 
been seen in ancient Sparta; but Sparta was only a 
camp, and the Spartan only an Indian warrior. His 
mode of life was barbarous, and the hardships at 
home almost equal to those of the severest war. He 



106 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

was not leaving the refinements of a civilized life, the 
comforts of a domestic home, and the business which 
promised individual success. When he marched 
against the Persian, he was doing what he had been 
educated to do, and engaging in warfare to which he 
was already inured. Not so the volunteer in the 
Union Army. Me was leaving civilized life ; he was 
giving up a settled business; he was parting from 
tearful friends ; he was the only son of a widow, or 
the husband of a young wife; or the father of young 
children ; he was one on whom the happiness of others 
depended, and for whom tears were shed, even by 
heroic hearts, and prayers offered up by the most 
faithful of Christians. Such was the American Vol- 
unteer, self-sacrificing, offering his services, it may be 
his life, on the altar of his country. While such pat- 
riotism remains, who can fear for his country ? While 
the memory of it remains, who can cease to believe in 
human nature, or cease to honor such noble spirits? 

Let us now return to the movements of Grant. 
Soon after the foil of Donelson there occurred one 
of those curious episodes in military history, which 
are entirely different from any thing we see in civil 
life, and which are regarded by people of common 
sense with great surprise. This was nothing less 
than the suspension of Grant from his command! 
What had happened? Certainly his success did not 
entitle him to immunity from the penalties of military 
law. But what offense had he committed? The 
actions at Fort Donelson had been so severe, and 
the constant arrival of troops during the siege had 
made the numbers so uncertain, that Grant had been 



GRANT RELIEVED OF HIS COMMAND. \0J 

unable immediately to report the precise losses, casu- 
alties, and numbers of his troops. It seems, also, 
that General C. F. Smith had been sent up the Cum- 
berland to Clarkesville, and Grant, not having heard 
directly from him, went himself to Nashville on the 
27th of February. In the mean time he had written 
and telegraphed to General Halleck all his move- 
ments. That General, however, either did not receive 
the messages, or thought the offense of leaving his 
immediate command greater than the merit of watch- 
ing the enemy's movements, and on the 3d of March, 
without any explanation, wrote : 

" I have had no communication with General 
Grant for more than a week. He left his command 
without my authority, and went to Nashville. His 
army seems to be as much demoralized by the vic- 
tory of Fort Donelson as was that of the Potomac 
by the defeat of Bull Run. It is hard to censure a 
successful general immediately after a victory, but I 
think he richly deserves it. I can get no returns, no 
reports, no information of any kind from him. Satis- 
fied with his victory, he sits down and enjoys it, with- 
out any regard to the future. I am worn out and 
tired by this neglect and inefficiency. C. F. Smith 
is almost the only officer equal to the emergency." 
The next day, having probably received authority 
from Washington, he telegraphed to Grant : " You 
will place Major-General C. F. Smith in command of 
expedition, and remain yourself at Fort Henry. Why 
do you not obey my orders to report strength and 
position of your command ?" 

This is one of the most extraordinary documents 



108 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

in military history. Grant had gained a great vic- 
tory ; it was only two weeks after that victory ; for- 
tress after fortress had fallen in consequence of it ; 
the army was active at every point; yet Halleck talks 
of its being demoralized, and wants a daily report of 
every company and regiment. McClellan was then in 
command, and probably sympathized profoundly with 
the genius and sagacity of Halleck. 

Grant replied that he was not aware of disobey- 
ing orders, and certainly did not intend to, and that 
he had almost daily reported the condition of his 
command, and had averaged writing more than once 
a day since leaving Cairo. Again Halleck rebuked, 
and twice Grant asked to be relieved. Soon after, 
Halleck transmitted to Grant a letter of inquiry from 
Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant-General (since quite noted) 
on the subject of Grant's leaving his command, and 
his own reply, dated March 15th, 1 in which he said 
there was " no zvcuit of military subordination on tJic 
part of General Grant, and his failure to make returns 
of his forces has been explained.'* This was just on 
the part of General Halleck, and relieves him from 
the suspicion of wanton injustice. 

This episode was soon over, and Grant restored 
to his command. In the mean time, General C. F. 
Smith had been placed in command, while Grant 
remained at Fort Henry. 2 Smith pushed forward 
troops to Eastport, on the Tennessee ; but ultimately 
took Pittsburg Landing as the initial point. Halleck 
still kept up his cautions. On the 13th of March 
he telegraphs Grant, "Don't bring on any general 
1 Badcau, pages 63, 64. 2 Badeau's statement. 



PITTSBURG LANDING. IO9 

engagement at Paris. If the enemy appear in force, 
our troops must fall back." Evidently Halleck knew 
that Grant would fight, and had a wholesome fear of 
any such performance. In a military point of view, 
he was at that time right. Our volunteers had been 
gathering from every part of the country ; and many 
of them were very ill disciplined, and not prepared 
for steady and desperate conflicts in the field. Some 
delay was, no doubt, needed. 

It is necessary here to refer to some incidental 
affairs, in order to understand the general position. 
We have seen the rebels had abandoned Columbus ; 
but, near the same time, they fortified Island No. 10, 
on the Mississippi, and although it was not a strong 
place itself, they expected to obstruct the navigation 
of the Mississippi, and for a short time did. General 
Pope, however, by judicious movements at and from 
New Madrid, compelled the enemy to evacuate, and 
on the 6th of April, the very day of the battle of 
Shiloh, our transports were descending the river. 1 
This cooperative movement was absolutely necessary 
to the success of the advance in the interior ; for it 
is very evident we must reenforce and provision our 
army from the Mississippi in making any advance 
beyond the Tennessee. 

Let us now return to the initial point of opera- 
tions at Pittsburg Landing. This field, on which was 
soon to be fought the battle of Shiloh, was selected 

1 A full account of this affair is given in Professor Coppee's " Grant 
and his Campaigns." Colonel J. W. Bissell, with his Engineer Regi- 
ment, under the direction of General Schuyler Hamilton, actually cut a 
canal twelve miles long, and fifty feet wide, through heavy woods ! and 
on the night of the 4th of April, the Carondelet ran by to New Madrid. 



110 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

by General C. F. Smith. It was on the west bank 
of the Tennessee; that is, on the same side with the 
enemy's forces, which were in front; and this fact has 
been severely criticised on one hand, and firmly 
defended on the other. The reasons seem about 
balanced. If our army had been defeated, (and 
Sidney Johnston, who commanded, and Beauregard, 
who succeeded him, were convinced it would be,) 
where was its retreat? It is rare that a com- 
mander can afford to leave such a question wholly 
out of view. The gun-boats Tylor and Lexington 
could do something in securing the re-passage of 
the river. But it seems to me, and did to Beaure- 
gard, that if our army had been defeated, it must 
have become an almost total wreck. On the other 
hand, the reasons are equally strong. We were the 
advancing, not the defending army. A river is a 
material defense, and if we permitted the enemy to 
hold the other bank, we must have crossed it on 
pontoons, in face of a powerful armament. Smith 
was a sagacious and well-educated officer, and look- 
ing to the fact that we must advance, and that we 
had some support from the gun-boats, he was proba- 
bly right. At any rate, there we were, at Pittsburg 
Landing, with the gathering host of the enemy in 
front. Beauregard had left the East some time be- 
fore, with fifteen thousand troops from the Army of 
Manassas. Albert Sidney Johnston, considered by 
many as the best military mind in the rebel serv- 
ice, commanded the formidable force now concen- 
trated to crush the army of Grant, and defeat what 
they well knew was our purpose — the conquest of 



JOHNSTON'S ADDRESS TO THE REBELS. 1 1 1 

the Mississippi Valley. Corinth was the central point 
of the rebel forces, and Pittsburg Landing that of 
ours. The fact that we were on the west side of the 
river, and, if defeated, had small chance of safety, was 
a great temptation to the rebel commander, and he 
was right in yielding to it. If successful, he could, in 
a great measure, destroy one of our finest armies; 
and if unsuccessful, he could retreat. 

Accordingly, on the 3d of April, Johnston issued 
an address to his army, of which the following is a 
paragraph : 

" Soldiers of the Army of the Mississippi : I have 
put you in motion to offer battle to the invaders of 
your country, with the resolution, and discipline, and 
valor becoming men, fighting, as you are, for all worth 
living or dying for. You can but march to a deci- 
sive victory over agrarian mercenaries sent to subju- 
gate and despoil you of your liberties, property, and 
onor. 

This assertion that our troops were "agrarian 
mercenaries" often repeated during the war, was dis- 
graceful to the rebel mind, for, in any event, the time 
must have come when history would have corrected 
such a falsehood. 

" Accompanying this address were general orders, 
dividing the Army of the Mississippi into three corps 
d\armee. General Beauregard was proclaimed second 
in command of the whole force. 

" The first coips d'armee was assigned to Gene- 
ral Polk, and embraced all the troops of his former 
command, less detached cavalry, and artillery, and 

1 Rebellion Record, page 75 of Diary, Vol. IV. 



112 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

reserves, detached for the defense of Fort Pillow and 
.Madrid tiend. 

44 The second corps iVarmce was assigned to Gen- 
eral Bragg, and was to consist of the Second Divi- 
sion of the Army of the Mississippi, less artillery and 
cavalry hereafter detached. 

44 The third corps cTarmie was assigned to General 
Hardee, and consisted of the Army of Kentucky. 
General Crittenden was assigned a command of re- 
serves, to consist of not less than two brigades." 

We now know the rebel plan of attack, and their 
reasons for it ; but, before we trace out the rebel 
movement, let us take a view of our position and 
forces. The following is a brief account, by Coppee, 
of Pittsburg Landing, and the general reason for the 
battle: 

44 It was on the west bank of the Tennessee, and 
for the most part densely wooded with tall trees, and 
but little undergrowth. The landing is immediately 
flanked on the left by a short but precipitous ravine, 
along which runs the road to Corinth. On the right 
and left, forming a good natural flanking arrange- 
ment, were Snake and Lick Creeks, which would 
compel the attack of the enemy to be made in front. 
The distance between the mouths of these creeks is 
about two and a half miles. The locality was well 
chosen. The landing was protected by the gun-boats 
Tylor and Lexington. Buell's Army of the Ohio was 
coming up to reenforce Grant, and, although the river 
lay in our rear, that was the direction of advance. 
Just at that time it was the best possible thing for 



STRENGTH OF THE ARMIES. 113 

our army to fight a battle, and the moral effect of a 
victory would be invaluable to our cause." 

What if it had not been a victory ? 

The authority for the rebel plan of the battle is 
Mr. Preston, brother-in-law, and confidential aid of 
A. S. Johnston at Shiloh, 1 which was confirmed by 
accounts from other sources, both on the Union and 
the rebel side. The rebel army was from 45,000 to 
60,000 ; Grant's near 38,000. The Union troops did 
not take advantage of the peculiar features of the 
country, and were, therefore, in a more unfavorable 
situation than they need have been. I have been in- 
formed by officers in the battle that some of the 
divisions had not even axes and shovels to make 
those temporary defenses which might have been 
erected. This, however, was no doubt the result 
rather of the hurry with which the army had been 
collected at this point than of the officers in com- 
mand. General De Peyster, criticising the position, 
says: 

"Woods, brush, ravines, and similar obstacles 
afforded opportunities for surprise, and blinds for 
attack, without corresponding advantages for resist- 
ance. The ground, however, was easily susceptible 
of defense. With twenty-four hours' work, felling 
trees, making abatis, throwing up earthworks, and 
mounting guns to sweep the ravines, the position 
could have been rendered impregnable to any sudden 
assault. 2 The natural obstacles, however, which mili- 

1 1 take this account from a very interesting little work by J. Watts 
De Peyster, entitled, " The Decisive Conflicts of the Late Civil War." 

2 Colonel Worthington, of the Forty-Sixth Ohio Regiment, informed 
me of the same fact at the time, and the omission of that precaution 

10 



114 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

tary command ignored, were fully taken advantage of 
by the troops themselves, when they fell back to make 
their successful individual, irregular defense. When 
it came to this, and organized resistance had ceased, 
it realized what Brigadier-General Sweeney said — 
'The rebels drove us all day, but it took them all 
day to drive us.' " ' 

We have now the entire situation before us, and 
we come to the plan of the battle, as devised by 
Johnston. I give it in the words of De Peyster, as 
derived from the best of rebel authorities : 

"A. Sidney Johnston's plan of attack was in re- 
ality the oblique order of battle — that is, in principle. 
He saw that the weak point of the Union line was 
Prentiss's left. He knew the ground well, yes, per- 
fectly well, and intended to amuse and engage the 
loyal right and center, throw the weight of his force 
on Prentiss's left, get in its rear, and continually throw 
off rear and flanking attacks, even as Prentiss fell 
back, up the ravines which shot out like spurs from 
mountain ranges, penetrating the Union position. 
The configuration of the ground or ravines, through 
which Lick Creek empties itself, can not be better 
represented than by a section of a ' Silver,' or what 
they call 'a Ladder Pine,' the main ravine repre- 
senting the trunk, the spur-ravines the branches. 

"As this oblique and then flanking attack pro- 
gressed, A. Sidney Johnston intended to strip his 
left and center, passing reinforcements behind the 

can only be excused on the ground that there had not been time to 
complete the arrangements. 
1 De Peyster'a "Conflicts." 



GRANT AT SA VANNAH. 1 1 5 

mask of battle or blind of fire, to his right, leaving 
only sufficient forces there to occupy McClernand 
and Sherman's attention, to feed, strengthen, and 
support the main attack till he had massed his 
troops on the left, far in the rear of the loyal line 
of battle ; whence, advancing up along the river, he 
could cut them off completely from it, and 'bag the 
whole crowd.' Such a conception, carried out as it 
was as long as A. Sidney Johnston lived, was worthy 
of the real father of modern oblique attacks, Frede- 
rick K., of Prussia. It was in the full tide of success 
when a bullet (according to one account, according to 
another a piece of a shell) put an end to the greatest 
military brain and life of rebeldom." 1 

Such was the plan of the rebel attack. What 
was the position of our forces to receive that attack ? 

Grant had arrived at Savannah on the 17th of 
March ; a point from which he could best super- 
intend the operations of the army, place the divi- 
sions, and determine on his plans. The forces in the 
field on the morning of the 6th of April, (Sunday,) 
were five divisions, thus placed: "Prentiss was on the 
left, about a mile and a half from the Landing, facing 
southward ; McClernand at some distance on his right, 
facing south-west ; Sherman at Shiloh Church, on the 
right of McClernand, and in advance of him ; Hurl- 
but and W. H. L. Wallace a mile in rear of McCler- 
nand, in reserve ; the former supporting the left and 
the latter the right wing." It will be observed that 
the whole were within the limits of Lick Creek, 

1 Professor Coppee seems to have attributed the plan of the rebels 
to Beauregard; but such it was not; it belonged to Johnston. 



Il6 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Snake Crock, and Owl Creek, a branch of Snake. A 
division under General Lewis Wallace lay at Crump's 
Landing, and was intended as a reserve, to come 
earl)- into battle, but lost its way, and did not take 
part till late in the day. Such was the position of 
our forces on the night of the 5th ; the rebel forces 
at that time lying just behind the shield of woods in 
front, and hearing the drums of our tattoo beat. 

Sunday the sun rose bright, and the morning was 
beautiful. Nature takes no note of the greatest con- 
vulsions of human society, and looks calmly on at the 
most dreadful scenes of human destruction. The cor- 
respondent of the " Cincinnati Gazette" wrote : 

" The sun never rose on a more beautiful morn- 
ing than that of Sunday, April 6th. Lulled by the 
general security, I had remained in pleasant quarters 
at Crump's, below Pittsburg Landing, on the river. 
By sunrise I was roused by the cry : ' They 're fight- 
ing above.' Volleys of musketry could, sure enough, 
be distinguished, and occasionally the sullen boom 
of artillery came echoing down the stream. Mo- 
mentarily the volume of sound increased, till it be- 
came evident it was no skirmish that was in progress, 
and that a considerable portion of the army must be 
already engaged. Hastily springing on the guards 
of a passing steamboat, I hurried up. 

" The sweet spring sunshine danced over the rip- 
pling waters, and softly lit up the green of the banks. 
A few fleecy clouds alone broke the azure above. A 
light breeze murmured among the young leaves ; the 
blue-birds were singing their gentle treble to the 
stern music that still came louder and deeper to us 



GRANT STARTS FOR THE FRONT. 117 

from the bluffs above, and the frogs were croaking 
their feeble imitation from the marshy islands that 
studded the channel." 

On this beautiful morning, and on the verge of 
a great battle, let us see where the principal com- 
manders and parties to it were. Buell, whose army 
was marching to join Grant, was anxiously expected ; 
for, although Grant intended to attack the enemy, if 
they did not attack him, yet it having been discovered 
that Johnston had been greatly reenforced, and that 
defeat was possible, it is true that Grant looked with 
anxiety for the arrival of these reinforcements. On 
the evening of the 5th Nelson's Division arrived in 
the vicinity of Savannah. Early on the morning of 
Sunday, (Grant and his staff were breakfasting, with 
their horses saddled, not more than six miles distant 
from Pittsburg, in a direct line,) the heavy firing was 
heard, and an order was instantly dispatched to Gen- 
eral Nelson to move his entire command to the river 
bank opposite Pittsburg. 1 Grant, at seven o'clock, 
started in person for the front, having written a 
note to Buell, which is important here, as indicating 
clearly what Grant had anticipated, and how little he 
was surprised by what occurred : 

" Heavy firing is heard up the river, indicating 
plainly that an attack has been made upon our most 
advanced positions. I have been looking for this, but 
did not believe the attack could be made before Mon- 
day or Tuesday. This necessitates my joining the 

1 Grant's written order to Nelson, on the morning of the 6th, to move 
opposite Pittsburg. The march began at one o'clock, and the division 
arrived at four, P. M. Suppose it had arrived at noon, as it might, 
would not Beauregard have been defeated that afternoon ? 



Il8 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

forces up the river, instead of meeting you to-day, 
as I had contemplated. I have directed General Nel- 
son to move to the river with his division. He can 
march to opposite Pittsburg." 

Here, then, we have the actual position of all the 
principal parties to the battle of Shiloh, on the morn- 
ing of the 6th, (Sunday.) Sidney Johnston had 
moved his army close up to our camp, and early in 
the morning had commenced the attack. Nelson's 
Division of Buell's forces had been ordered up. Grant 
had breakfasted, and was now galloping to the front. 
The battle had begun, and the roar of the guns came 
like the tornadoes of the West, sweeping through the 
woods and over the plains. The rebel onset was 
made with tremendous force. The advanced Division 
of Sherman, and the left under Prentiss, received the 
first shock, and as they were raw troops, many gave 
way, and the civilians who were at the landing, and 
the reporters who crowd round the army like birds 
of prey to the carcass, were in haste to proclaim a 
rout, and told of the thousands who crowded to the 
landing as the troops retreated. There were the 
skulkers, the civilians, the camp men, who are always 
numerous in a new army. But the battle raged on, 
and, notwithstanding the number of skulkers, never 
did the volunteers fight better. Sherman's Division, 
though driven back, re-formed and retreated, like the 
lion as he slowly draws his body back, already 
wounded by the hunter. McClernand's Division sup- 
ported Sherman's left ; but on Prentiss came the 
great shock ; for, as I have shown, it was Johnston's 
plan to heap repeated attacks on our left, driving 



\ 




-{4 + -f-f + + + 4--H Reserve Artillery 



120 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

it back, in order to get possession of the landing. 
Prentiss was not surprised, though totally unaware 
that a whole army was to be poured upon him. He 
had pickets out, and had sent four companies to re- 
connoiter. But this^ reconnoitering party was sud- 
denly attacked, and the shock came with stunning 
force. Prentiss is driven back in confusion. Be- 
tween him and Sherman there is a gap, and into this 
gap rushes the rebel General Hardee, and he flanks 
the retreating regiments of Prentiss, and the left of 
Sherman also. Prentiss has been reenforced by Hurl- 
but, with the Brigade of Veatch, and endeavors in 
vain to stem the torrent. In vain, for Bragg has re- 
enforced Hardee, and on the rebel columns push. 
Prentiss is soon enveloped, his division driven back, 
part of his field-officers killed ; but, after a desperate 
fight, he and portions of his division are captured. 
So far, Johnston was succeeding in his plan ; our left 
was broken, and fast drifting toward the landing, and 
the day there looked dark. Although broken, it is a 
mistake to suppose those gallant men were, like the 
skulkers from the front, out of the fight, or demoral- 
ized. They were no longer available as organizations, 
but they took to skirmishing in masses, and did ef- 
fective service. The iMfteenth Wisconsin had nine 
hundred men, of whom four hundred were marksmen, 
and it is related of one of them that, falling back 
from tree to tree, his Colonel came up and said, 
" How many have you finished ?" " Colonel," replied 
this cool individual, " I have fired thirty-seven car- 
tridges, and I do n't feel certain of six." He had 
brought down tliirty-one rebels ! So raged the battle, 



THE BATTLE, 121 

even where our broken and disordered troops fell 
back. 

Let us return to the center. Sherman had been 
gradually driven back. McClernand had come into 
line, bearing the brunt of the advancing attack. 
Hurlbut had endeavored to strengthen the left. Wal- 
lace was coming in, and had sent a brigade to reen- 
force Stewart, on the extreme left, who was attacked 
by Breckinridge's reserves. Sherman had been forced 
back more and more ; but parts of his division 
had done most gallant fighting. The regiments of 
McDowell, and Buckland's Brigade, maintained their 
lines, fought bravely, and suffered severely. 1 So, all 
over the field, there was hard fighting and brave 
conduct ; but still, at 10, A. M., the day was evi- 
dently going against us ; but then, as one aptly said, 
we made them take the day to it ; and it was good 
fighting did it. 

The battle was confused ; the divisions covered so 
much space, that we can not follow each regiment, or 
man, through this terrible day. We must be con- 
tented to look at general movements, and mark well 
results, for many mistaken accounts of that battle 
have been given. 

" As far as mathematical statements and lines can 
indicate such a confused condition of things," says 
Professor Coppee, 2 "the order at ten o'clock was the 
following: Colonel Stewart, of Sherman's Division, 
who had been posted on the Hamburg road in the 

1 See General Sherman's Report, in which particular regiments and 
actions are named. 

2 " Grant and his Campaigns," page 88. 

II 



122 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

morning, far to the left, and who had held his posi- 
tion most gallantly against the overwhelming num- 
bers of Breckinridge's reserves, had been slowly 
driven back to join Hurlbut's left, in spite of the re- 
enforcements of McArthur's Brigade, of Wallace's 
Division. Next came Hurlbut, who had posted him- 
1 self to resist the rebel advance ; and behind him were 
the fugitives of General Prentiss. McClernand was 
on his right and rear ; and Sherman's left in rear of 
McClernand." 

Our men had now found out what I have stated 
was the rebel plan of the battle — the constant at- 
tacking and pushing our left. Coppee says : 

"As it was now manifest that the fury of the rebel 
attack was to be directed to our left, General Wallace 
marched his other brigades over to join Mc Arthur, 
thus filling the space so threatened upon Hurlbut's 
left, and took with him three Missouri batteries — 
Stone's, Richardson's, and Webber's — all under Major 
Cavender. Here, from ten o'clock till four, this 
devoted force manfully sustained the terrific fire and 
frequent attack of the continually increasing foe. 
Upon Wallace and Hurlbut the enemy made four 
separate charges, which were splendidly repulsed. 
At length Hurlbut was obliged to fall back, and, their 
supports all gone, Wallace's Division were satisfied 
that they too must retire. To add to the disorder, 
their commander, General Wallace, fell mortally 
wounded, and was carried from the field." 

Now we are at the crisis of the battle. Prentiss 
is a prisoner ; Wallace is mortally wounded. Regi- 
ment after regiment has been broken ; division after 



DEATH OF GENERAL JOHNSTON. 1 23 

division has retreated slowly back, till our left is 
fast approaching the Landing. And still the enemy 
is thundering on. Weary, cut up, and no little de- 
moralized he is too. 1 For we need not think that, 
in this bloody field, it is our army alone which has 
suffered, and has skulkers falling behind. Not so ; 
the rebels had their full share of all those losses ; 
but they had the advantage of the advance, and the 
appearance of victory. The sun of their glory was, 
however, soon to sink ; and victory, which seemed so 
sure, was soon to fade away, and be seen no more. 

At half-past 2, P. M., Albert Sidney Johnston 
was borne from the field by his friend, Colonel Pres- 
ton. With him the true genius of the campaign 
perished. The battle for a time slackened ; not\only 
on this account, but because the rebel army was 
greatly shattered and wearied. At length, about 
4, P. M., Beauregard was ready for the last charge. 

On the crest of a ridge on our left, Colonel Web- 
ster and Major Cavender had hastily planted bat- 
teries 2 — on the crest of a ridge overlooking a ravine, 
which still intervened between the enemy and our 
reduced and shortened line. The enemy placed their 
artillery on the opposite crest, and determined to 
seize and cross the ravine. Here were the divisions 
of Breckinridge, and Chalmers, and Withers, em- 
battled for their charge. It was in vain. The fire 
of our artillery was tremendous; and just then the 
gun-boats (the Tylor and Lexington) got a chance to 
pour in their fire. The rebels were attacking on Lick 

1 See Beauregard's Official Report. 

2 See General Hurlbuts Report. 



124 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Creek, where our troops had Iain in the morning. 
The gun-boats entered the mouth of the creek, and 
opened their guns up the ravine. Three times the 
rebels charged, under the fire of batteries and boats, 
and each time were driven back, with great loss. 
Just as this scene was closing, the advance of General 
Buell's army, the Brigade of General Ammen, ar- 
rived, and had no sooner got to the bank than it 
was put in position by Grant himself, who was in that 
part of the field. 1 This part of Buell's forces fired 
but a few volleys that night, and, as appears from the 
regimental reports, lost but three or four men, killed 
and wounded. 2 In fact, the battle was ended. John- 
ston had perished, and Beauregard failed to drive 
Grant's army into the Tennessee. The night 'was 
drawing on ; both armies were exhausted ; the enemy 
retired to his camps; and our troops, inspired by 
hope, lay upon their arms, expecting victory on the 
morrow. Before the last charge of the rebels, when 
the battle was waning, after Johnston's death, and 
before Buell's troops had arrived, Grant (then with 
Sherman's Division) gave orders to renew the battle 
in the morning. Did that look like defeat ? No ! 
The darkest hour had been in the forenoon, and 
Grant saw that Beauregard's army had begun to fail. 
Lewis Wallace's Division was yet fresh for the field ; 
and batteries and gun-boats were in position. The 
probability is, that, even left to itself, the Army of 

1 Report of Colonel Ammen, and Report of Lieutenant-Colonel 
Jones, Twenty-Fourth Ohio. These reports prove that Grant directed 
these movements himself. 

2 Report of Colonel Grose, Thirty-Sixth Indiana. 



THE NIGHT ON THE BATTLE-FIELD. \2$ 

the Tennessee would have achieved a glorious victory 
under the morrow's sun. 

The scenes of that night, could they have been 
pictured on canvas, would have been different, but 
equally interesting with those of the day. It was a 
dark and stormy night, and even the rebel com- 
manders could not find their troops. 1 The National 
troops had been driven from all their camps, and 
with their organizations much broken up, formed 
more a mass of brave fighting men, stubbornly main- 
taining their ground, than, that of a regularly disci- 
plined army. So sunk the weary to rest ; so lay the 
dead under the dark clouds ; so lay and groaned the 
wounded, where, between two armies, none could at- 
tend them. Here they sleep, quiet as the infant ; 
here they lie as quiet, in the arms of death ; here 
they lie, in the pain and agonies of desperate wounds, 
longing for some refreshing draught, which is only 
supplied by the rains of Heaven. But yonder is a 
different scene. All night long the divisions of Buell 
were being ferried across the river. Grant visited 
each division commander in the night, and repeated 
himself the order to attack in the morning ; and, 
amidst the silence of the sleepers on one side, and 
the movements of troops on the other, and the con- 
sultations of Generals, the gun-boats were dropping 
shell after shell into the enemy's camps. Thus did 

1 " Such was the nature of the ground over which we had fought, 
and the heavy resistance we had met, that the commands of the whole 
army were very much shattered. In a dark and stormy night com- 
manders found it impossible to find and assemble their troops ; each 
body or fragment bivouacking where night overtook them." — Bragg 's 
Report. 



126 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

nature and man, the storm from the clouds and the 
wrecks of battle, mingle in that strange scene on the 
banks of the Tennessee, near the little church of 
Shiloh, on that memorable Sunday night. 

And now, before the drum again wakes the sleep- 
ers, before the harvest of death again begins, let us 
ask where was Grant, and what he had been doing ? 
I have said that Grant expected the attack, but not 
quite so soon, unless the enemy waited for him to 
attack them, which he meant to do. On the evening 
before, (Saturday the 5th,) Nelson's Division of Buell's 
forces had arrived near Savannah. Grant, anxious to 
meet Buell, breakfasted early with his staff, and had 
their horses saddled and waiting. It was then he 
heard the heavy firing, and leaving an order for Nel- 
son to advance, and a hasty note for Buell, he imme- 
diately proceeded to the scene of action, several miles 
distant. Two hours after this, at ten o'clock, when 
the battle raged fiercest, and the hour was darkest for 
us, Grant was with Sherman,' on the right of his 
division, encouraging him to a stubborn resistance, 
and in answer to an inquiry about cartridges, said he 
had foreseen and provided for that. So well was this 
done that "all day long a train of wagons was passing 
from the Landing to the front, carrying ammunition 
over the narrow and crowded road." 2 From the front 
Grant proceeded rapidly to the left, and, at intervals, 
was engaged in forming new lines and sending strag- 
glers back to their regiments, a work most necessary 

1 Sherman's Letter to the United States Service Magazine. 
3 Badeau, in his "Military History," says that Colonel Pride, of 
Grant's staff, organized this train. 



CONFIDENCE OF GRANT. 1 27 

in the emergency. 1 At half-past four in the after- 
noon Grant met Buell at the Landing, (for Buell, on 
hearing of the battle at Savannah, rode up in person,) 
and explained the situation of affairs to him. Buell 
inquired : " What preparations have you made for re- 
treating, General t n Grant at once said: "I have lit 
despaired of whipping them yet" Buell then went to 
hurry up his own troops. A little after, at five 
o'clock, Grant is seen posting the regiments of Gen- 
eral Ammen's Brigade, (Nelson's Division,) to sup- 
port the batteries, which, I have said, were planted on 
the ridge to defeat the enemy's last attack. 2 Soon 
after the enemy is driven back, and about six o'clock 
(for it was near and before sunset) Grant rode up to 
General Sherman, 3 explained to him the situation of 
affairs on the left, ordered him to get all things ready, 
and at daylight next day attack the enemy. Sherman 
says this was before he knew Buell had arrived. 
Grant knew it ; but at four o'clock in the afternoon, 
says Sherman, on a deliberate calculation of the avail- 
able forces, the arrival of Lewis Wallace's Division, 
and the recovery of the stragglers, Grant thought 
himself justified in resuming the offensive next morn- 
ing. Was that a correct judgment? This was before 
the last grand attack on the left, and before Grant 
knew the almost fatal force of that attack. It is 
doubtful whether he or any of our Generals fully 

1 Badeau's " Military History." 

2 Nelson (see Report) says the head of his column marched up the 
bank of Pittsburg Landing at 5, P. M. And Ammen (see Ammen's 
Report) says that General Grant directed him, at the top of the bank, 
to support a battery assailed by the enemy. 

3 Sherman's Letter to the United States Service Magazine. 



128 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

comprehended on that day the plan of Johnston in 
his continued oblique attack on our left. 1 But it was 
there the heaviest attack was made, there the press- 
ure was the greatest, and there the enemy's success 
was the greatest, and there, but for the admirable 
arrangement of a circle of batteries by Webster and 
Cavender, their attack might have been fatal. What- 
ever might have happened, we know that Grant had 
not despaired of the battle, for so he told Buell ; so 
he thought when he ordered Sherman to assume the 
offensive in the morning. 

Let us now take a glance at the position of the 
army on the evening of the 6th of April. Our divi- 
sions had been partly broken, partly driven back, 
partly disorganized, but not wholly broken. No part 
of our line had really been pierced in all its retreat ; 
but it had retreated so that the two wings were just 
about two miles back from the position of the front 
line in the morning. The line now extended from 
Snake Creek bridge on the right to the crest and 
ravine, a little way from the Landing. This line was 
nearly two miles long, with an apex projecting toward 
the right. The gun-boats were on the left, command- 
ing the ravine, and the bridge over Snake Creek made 
the extreme right. All night long the troops of Buell 
were crossing the river and forming in position. 2 

" Grant visited each division commander, includ- 
ing Nelson, after dark, directing the new position 
of each, and repeating in person his orders for an 

1 See the testimony of Col. Preston, given in the " Decisive Con- 
flicts," by De I'cvster. 

2 See Bucll's Kepuit, April 15, 1S62. 



GRANT INS TR UC TS C OMMA NDERS. 1 29 

advance at early dawn. He told each to 'attack 
with a heavy skirmish line, as soon as it was light 
enough to see, and then to follow up with his entire 
command, leaving no reserves.' Before midnight he 
returned to the Landing, and lay on the ground, with 
his head against the stump of a tree, where he got 
thoroughly drenched by the storm, but slept soundly, 
confident of victory on the morrow." 1 

The battle of the 7th (Monday) was comparatively 
easy. Indeed, if we suppose the rebel commander to 
have been fully informed of the arrival of reenforce- 
ments, he could have had no object in the battle of 
the 7th but to cover his retreat. In fact, however, 
Beauregard was in doubt, and hoped, from the pre- 
ceding rains, that Buell had been delayed. 2 In the 
mean time, however, three divisions of Buell's army 
had crossed the Tennessee, and were formed pre- 
cisely where they would be most effective; for, ob- 
serve that the enemy's main attack had been per- 
sistently on our left, and opposite our position (that 
on the ravine) lay the main body of the rebel forces. 
Buell's three corps (those of Nelson, Crittenden, and 
McCook) were formed from our center to the left; 
Sherman on the right, and toward Snake Creek 
bridge, kept the front. At daylight the attack was 
made, and Sherman says: "I advanced my division 
by the flank, the resistance being trivial, up to the 
very spot where the day before the battle had been 
most severe, and then waited till near noon for 
Buell's troops to get up abreast, when the entire line 

1 This statement is taken from Badeau's " Military History," page 87. 

2 See Beauregard's Report of the nth April. 



130 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

advanced, and recovered all the ground we had ever 
held." The sharp fight was on the left, where the 
divisions of Buell attacked in fine order, and gradu- 
ally drove the enemy before them. Here we may let 
General Beauregard tell the story of the result ; for, 
although he claimed a great victory for the day be- 
fore, and now considered that he was only defeated 
by fresh troops, yet, in the concluding facts, he seems 
to be mainly correct. Beauregard says : 

"On the left, however, and nearest to the point 
of arrival of his reenforcements, he drove forward 
line after line of his fresh troops, which were met 
with a resolution and courage of which our country 
may be proudly hopeful. Again and again our troops 
were brought to the charge, invariably to win the po- 
sition at issue, invariably to drive back their foe. But 
hour by hour thus opposed to an enemy constantly 
reenforced, our ranks were perceptibly thinned under 
the unceasing, withering fire of the enemy, and by 
twelve meridian, eighteen hours of hard fighting had 
sensibly exhausted a large number ; my last reserves 
had necessarily been disposed of, and the enemy was 
evidently receiving fresh reenforcements after each 
repulse ; accordingly, about one, P. M., I determined 
to withdraw from so unequal a conflict, securing such 
of the results of the victory of the day before as were 
practicable." l 

The result was, he made a hasty retreat, with not 
half the available strength with which he went into the 
battle? 

1 Beauregard's Report, nth of April. 

2 Idem. This admission is important to Grant's military position. 



GRANT VINDICATED. 131 

Such was the Battle of Shiloh, the least un- 
derstood, and the most misrepresented of any battle 
or event in that war. It was a battle which some 
military critics have regarded as most decisive, in 
which more than twenty thousand men (about equally 
divided in the two armies) were lost ; at which the 
best Generals of the whole rebel armies were de- 
feated, and which, nevertheless, was represented to 
the country as a battle in which there was no general- 
ship ; in which the position was wrongly chosen ; in 
which the General was absent from the field, and at 
which thousands of men ran away, and thousands of 
others were slaughtered without a reason ! The sim- 
ple story of its events, as I have related them, from 
unquestionable evidence, is a sufficient answer to 
these misrepresentations. A man who has led an 
army of raw recruits into the field; fought them, 
without the slightest fortification, against superior 
numbers; 1 and found himself ready at night for a 
victory on the morrow, needs no vindication. Suc- 
cess may not be a test of merit ; but success there 
was at least a proof that Grant knew what he was 
about. Time and victory have vindicated Grant from 
the criticisms and aspersions cast upon him in rela- 
tion to his conduct at Shiloh. But it is due to those 
who wish to know the truth of Grant's conduct at 
Shiloh, whether military or personal, to make a brief 
review of his position, both at Donelson and Shiloh ; 
for they are connected together. This is especially 
necessary, as most of the unfavorable criticisms have 

1 Beauregard's Report admits that he had 41,000 men ; and, with- 
out Lewis Wallace's Division, Grant had not over 35,000. 





132 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

been made by men totally unacquainted with military 
affairs, and unfit to make any criticism at all. Such 
critics, however sincere or earnest, are generally 
conscious of their deficiencies, and will be found very 
generous in their quotations of military proverbs, from 
Napoleon, Frederick, Wellington, and Jomini, all 
of whom would have found their proverbs totally in- 
applicable in American warfare. They never carried 
on war in such an extent of country, or with such 
numerous armies ; and were men of too strong minds, 
and too much military science, to have marched an 
American army on European ideas. 

The criticisms made on General Grant, at Donel- 
son and Shiloh, were principally these : 

i. That the plan of the Donelson Expedition was 
formed by Buell, for which reference is made to a 
dispatch from Buell to Halleck, dated January 3, 
1862. But what had a letter to Halleck to do with 
it, unless Halleck communicated it to Grant ? This 
he did not do, and no intimation of such a plan was 
made to Grant, till Grant and Foote had urged it on 
Halleck. Grant has made no claim to a general plan 
of that campaign ; but, if he had, this dispatch of 
Buell to Halleck would have been no refutation of it. 
Most probably, no general plan of that campaign was 
made by any body. 

2. It has been said and assumed by those who 
seem to have forgot that armies move in reference 
to an object, and battles are fought to obtain that 
object, that the position of the army on the west 
side of the Tennessee River, and therefore exposed 
to an attack, was a blunder. The position was 



THE POSITION A T SIIIL OIL 1 3 3 

selected by General C. F. Smith ; and not only 
selected, but every division was placed in position 
by him. 1 But when General Grant came into com- 
mand, a few days later, he might unquestionably have 
removed the army to the other side. If, then, the 
army was at that time in danger from a bad position, 
Grant is responsible for it. But he did not think so ; 
and it may be doubted whether any daring General 
would have thought so. In the first place, the army 
was already there, placed by General Smith ; and to 
move back was to show a sense of fear, and to per- 
form a doubtful operation. In the next place, the 
position was naturally very strong, and that it was so, 
ultimately enabled Grant to turn disaster into victory. 
On either side lay large and deep creeks, heading 
near together, and breaking the country into rough 
and difficult ravines ; so that the army could be at- 
tacked only in front, and was substantially protected 
on either side. In the third place, the gun-boats af- 
forded no small defense at the river ; and, lastly, 
Buell's army was hourly expected. The position of 
the army was in fact a very strong one ; and the er- 
rors committed (and it seems to me there were some) 
were not in choosing the position, but in the man- 
agement of it. There can, I think, be no doubt, that 
our troops should have taken possession of the woods 
in front, or a part of them, and constructed abatis, 
and light intrenchments in front. There was time 
enough for this, and the subsequent experience of 
our armies in the war (when they did do such things) 

1 Sherman's Letter to United States Service Magazine. 



134 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

proved they were necessary. 1 It was said, on the 
other hand, that, at this period of the war, our men 
did not believe in such defenses. Perhaps so ; but 
the whole art of war proved that they were neces- 
sary to prevent the effect of sudden attacks. What- 
ever opinion may be formed of that, the position at 
Shiloh was a strong one ; and whether the army 
ought originally to have been placed on that side of 
the river is a question not to be settled now, except 
on general principles. Two arguments are decidedly 
in favor of this position. The first is, that, in spite 
of all our danger, zve did succeed. The other is, that 
an attacking army must advance. Suppose we had 
not crossed the Tennessee then, and Beauregard's 
army had taken the other side, how long before we 
would have crossed? 

3. Again, it has been said that we were surprised. 
This is contradicted, both by the facts and the offi- 
cers. We have seen that Grant said he had expected 
this ; but he did not expect it so soon, by a day or 
two. Sherman says, there had been skirmishing the 
two previous days ; and Prentiss had pickets a mile 
in advance, and four companies reconnoitering at 3 
o'clock in the morning. Grant was telegraphing to 
Halleck each day, and on the 5th telegraphed him 
that there had been skirmishing; that the enemy 
were apparently in considerable force ; that he had 
no idea a general attack would be made, " but ivill 
be prepared should such a thing take place! 1 The 

• Before the Battle of Shiloh was fought, Colonel Worthington, of 
the Forty-Sixth Ohio, (of Sherman's Division,) wrote me, that these 
precautions ought to be taken. 

2 Badeau's "Military History." 



MISREPRESENTATIONS REFUTED. 1 35 

idea of a surprise arose from the very fact, and fault, 
I have commented on, the want of abatis and in- 
trenchments. For want of them, the pickets and 
first lines of troops were very quickly driven and 
broken ; and this gave lookers-on the idea of a sur- 
prise. Beauregard, in his report, says : " At 5, A. M., 
on the 6th instant, a reconnoitering party of the 
enemy having become engaged with our advanced 
pickets, the commander of the forces gave orders to 
begin the movement and attack as determined upon." l 
Bragg, in his report, says substantially the same 
thing. The idea of not expecting an attack at 
Shiloh, or of being surprised on the morning of 
the battle, must therefore be given up. 

4. The grossest misrepresentations as to Grant 
himself were made ; that he was far from the battle ; 
that he was negligent ; that he made no plan on the 
6th, for the battle of the 7th ; and other charges 
more gross and equally false were circulated by those 
whose imagination was greater than their knowledge. 
The simple narrative of the facts above stated refutes 
them all. For four days Grant was in constant ac- 
tivity ; every day dispatching to Halleck ; on the 
morning of the 6th, breakfasting early for a start ; 
ordering up Nelson, and riding at once to the front ; 
consulting with Sherman, at 10 o'clock ; riding and 
forming men over the whole field of battle ; meeting 
Buell at 4 o'clock, at the Landing ; putting Ammen's 
Brigade in position, at 5 o'clock ; ordering Sherman 
to be ready for a morning attack ; and meeting Buell 
and Sherman in the evening, to make arrangements 

1 Beauregard's Report, 21st of April, 1862. 



136 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

for the morrow's battle, (which wore made and per- 
fectly carried out,) and at midnight sleeping at the 
foot of a tree amid drenching rains. If this is not 
care and activity and plan and grit, what is ? 

5. What was the theory of the battle, and what 
was its result ? General Sherman may not have been 
authorized to announce what was a pre-arranged plan, 
in his letter to the "United States Service Magazine," 
but he most certainly stated what was required to be 
done and what happened, when he says : 

"It was necessary that a combat, fierce and bitter, 
to test the manhood of the two armies, should come 
off, and that was as good a place as any. It was not 
then a question of military skill and strategy, but of 
courage and pluck, and I am convinced that every 
life lost that day to us was necessary, for otherwise 
at Corinth, at Memphis, at Vicksburg, we would have 
found harder resistance, had we not shown our enemies 
that, rude and untutored as we then were, we could 
fight as well as they." 

The rebellion was begun and carried on, on the 
part of the Confederate States, under several great 
delusions, of which it seemed as impossible to unde- 
ceive them as it would be to reason a lunatic into 
sanity. One of them was, that there was a positive 
personal and military inferiority on the part of North- 
ern men. This, like the idea that cotton was supreme 
in commerce, had to be destroyed before the rebels 
could come to a true perception of their condition. 
It is not at all probable that the battle of Shiloh 
was deliberately fought on Sherman's theory, but it is 
certain that Grant, finding that the rebels rallied as 



ES TIM A TE OF THE BA TTLE OF SHIL OH. 1 3 J 

energetically as ever after Donelson and Shiloh, 
henceforward believed and acted on the idea that 
nothing but hard blows and crushing force could 
conquer the rebellion.' 

Now, what was the actual result of Shiloh ? A 
very intelligent military critic 2 considered it one of 
the most decisive battles of the war. At any rate it 
did produce the moral effect, which we see was needed, 
as testified to by rebel soldiers. The following para- 
graph sums up the main facts : 

"If any battle of the rebellion comes up to the 
estimate of Creasy as to decisiveness, that battle was 
Shiloh. In many respects it was the battle of the 
war. It disposed of the rebels' best General, dissi- 
pated their highest hopes, reversed all their life-long- 
learned theories. By their camp-fires the rebel sol- 
diers discussed, in after days, that conflict — drew con- 
clusions which obliterated all their former traditional 
beliefs and ideas. With bitter oaths, an ear-witness 
reports, they were wont to exclaim : ' Do n't tell us 
the Yanks won't fight ; we know how they fought at 
Shiloh!' The South did not believe that the war 
really meant killing till after Donelson and Pittsburg 
Landing." 

Shiloh was a military sequel to Donelson, and so 
it ought to have been, in a well-arranged and suc- 
cessful campaign. But had that campaign any plan ? 
Perhaps we shall be able to answer that hereafter. I 
think Shiloh was not decisive, but that it ought to, and 
would have been, but for the inefficient conduct of 

1 Badeau's " Military History." 

2 The " Decisive Conflicts," by De Peyster. 

12 



133 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

General Ilalleek, who subsequently took command. 
Whether this is a correct opinion we shall see by a 
comparison of dates and facts. At present we shall 
leave the victorious Union army resting on the night 
of the 7th of April, and Beauregard retreating to 
Corinth. There stands the little log church at 
Shiloh. It was built in the wilderness. It had, 
doubtless, seen many a gathering of peaceful people, 
listening to the messenger of the Cross, and looking 
with hope to the Shiloh to come. It now realized 
the declaration of the living Shiloh, that war would 
attend the preaching of his Word, and destruction 
wait on its progress.' The little church had seen 
the beautiful light of Sunday morning, heard the 
birds sing their sweet music, beheld the crash of 
battle, as it rolled over the living and the dead, saw 
the dark storm of the night as it rained on the 
wounded and the dying, and looked out on the victor 
and the vanquished, as weary they sank to rest! 
Soon the little church is gone, 2 and now we look into 
the heavens for the Shiloh which is to come! 

1 Mark xiii. 

2 In a few days Shiloh Church fell and was gone 1 



SHILOH A VICTORY, 1 39 



CHAPTER VI. 

HALLECK TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMY — GRANT A SUB- 
ORDINATE — SHERMAN'S RECONNOISSANCE — GRANT PUT IN 
THE SHADE — LINCOLN'S SUPPORT — HALLECK GETS TO COR- 
INTH AND INTRENCHES — CORINTH EVACUATED — THE NEW 
STRATEGIC LINE — BEAUREGARD DISCOVERS CHATTANOOGA, 
AND HALLECK SEES IT TOO — THE ARMY IS SCATTERED, 
AND HALLECK DEPARTS — GRANT AGAIN IN COMMAND — 
BATTLE OF IUKA — BATTLE OF CORINTH — SANITARY COM- 
MISSION — CHRISTIAN WOMEN. 



B 



Y the gallant fighting of the volunteers in the 
army of Grant, by Grant's own unbroken firm- 
ness and inflexible daring, by the effective fire of the 
gun-boats, and by the arrival and fine conduct of 
Buell, Shiloh was not only retrieved, but turned into 
a glorious victory. The nation rejoiced, Congress 
thanked, and in spite of all misrepresentations, the 
people began to see the truth, that Shiloh was not 
planned poorly, nor fought badly, 1 but that it was not 
only successful, but successful for good reasons, and 
that Grant was in fact an able and noble soldier. We 
are now to see Grant in the part of a subordinate, 
and to trace out a chapter of events, which, contain- 
ing no very decisive movements, is yet remarkably 

1 Time and truth have at length cleared away both the mystery and 
misrepresentation of Shiloh. 



140 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

curious, iu both military and personal history. On 
the 9th of April, (two days after the great battle,) 
Halleck (who was commander of the Western De- 
partment) left St. Louis for the scene of action. 
Perhaps he thought there might be jealousy between 
Grant and Buell, who had commanded separate 
armies, or perhaps had a laudable ambition to share 
in the glory of the campaign. At any rate he quickly 
arrived at Pittsburg Landing, and on the 13th of April 
issued a General Order, 1 " congratulating the troops on 
their glorious successes," and directing Generals Grant 
and Buell to retain the " immediate command of their 
respective armies in the field." If the events follow- 
ing were to happen just as they did, it was well for 
Grant's reputation that he could prove precisely the 
date when he ceased to be a commander and became 
a subordinate. The rebels were retreating with a 
broken army, reduced on the evening of the 6th (first 
day's battle) to a half of its available strength. 2 We 
shall see that, till our delays allowed them to be re- 
enforced, and even then, they did not really expect to 
hold Corinth. If there be any principle, either of 
common-sense or military science, it is that a de- 
feated and broken enemy should not be allowed to 
re-form, reenforce, and recuperate himself. He should 
be pressed and destroyed, if possible. No doubt our 
wearied troops should have been allowed some rest, 
and some reorganization was necessary; but Buell's 
army was fresh and strong, and it does not appear 

1 Halleck's General Order, dated Pittsburg, April 13th. 

2 Beauregard's Report of April nth, in which he states that his army 
was 40,350 strong, and that on that evening it could only muster 20,000 

availables. 



ACTIVITY OF GRANT. 141 

that Lewis Wallace's Division had lost any thing. 
Here, then, we had an army stronger than that of 
Beauregard's, even when the first divisions, which 
fought the first day at Shiloh, were left out of the 
account. What happened? We shall see. Grant 
did not lie still. On the 8th Sherman went out on 
the Corinth road, with two brigades of his fatigued 
troops ; had a skirmish, but found the enemy had re- 
treated in confusion. 1 Sherman says : 

" The roads are very bad, and are strewed with 
abandoned wagons, ambulances, and limber-boxes. 
The enemy has succeeded in carrying off the guns, 
but has crippled his batteries by abandoning the hind 
limber-boxes of at least twenty guns. I am satisfied 
that the enemy's infantry and cavalry passed Lick 
Creek this morning, traveling all last night, and that 
he left behind all his cavalry, which has protected 
his retreat. But the signs of confusion and disorder 
mark the whole road." 

But, in spite of all weariness, and losses, Grant 
was not idle a day. On the 12th, he sent out an ex- 
pedition of four thousand men, on five transports, 
with the gun-boats Tylor and Lexington, to Eastport, 
Mississippi, where they landed, proceeded to Bear. 
Creek Bridge, and destroyed two bridges over the 
Mobile and Ohio Railroad. The expedition returned 
in the evening, and the army was now ready to renew 
the campaign. On the morning of the next day 
(13th) Halleck assumed the command, and, for the 
next three months, Grant was a subordinate to Hal- 
leck ; and for the two months of that time seems to have 

1 Sherman's Report, dated 8th of April. 



142 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

known nothing of any general plan of operations, and 
only once to have made a suggestion of an important 
movement, when he was informed by the commander, 
that he might keep his advice till it was asked. 1 In 
fact, with the misrepresentations made of Shiloh, and 
Halleck's evident belief that Grant was a second-rate 
sort of a person, the victor in the greatest of battles 
was as much under a cloud, as if he had been the 
defeated general, very mercifully treated if he es- 
caped censure ! There was one man in the country 
who thought Grant had the qualities most available 
in war, and fortunately that man had the power to 
sustain him. Abraham Lincoln was seldom mis- 
taken in his judgment of men, and although having 
no military study or education himself, was several 
times, during the war, compelled to order movements 
and make changes in defiance of the conservative 
military, as well as civil, leaders about him. It is 
quite probable that Grant would more than once have 
been sacrificed to military jealousy, if it had not been 
for the firmness of Lincoln. In addition to this, 
Grant's own good qualities saved him from any col- 
lision with his superior officers. He was eminently 
a soldier, truly loyal to his country, and put that 
loyalty above any considerations of private feeling. 
Besides, he was calm in temperament, and self-confi- 
dent. So now he told Halleck he was only intent on 
his duty, and should perform any service assigned' him. 
I need not go into many details about Halleck's 
march to Corinth, and the imaginary siege of that 
place. It can all be told very briefly. 

1 Badeau's "Military History," page 102. 



MOVEMENT ON CORINTH. 1 43 

The distance from Pittsburg Landing direct to 
Corinth was nineteen miles. Perhaps, by the road 
taken by the army, it may have been more. At any 
rate, it was not a two days' march. Then the ques- 
tion was a very simple one. Ought our army to move 
immediately on, and attack the broken forces of the 
enemy at once ? or ought we to wait for reinforce- 
ments, and by that loss of time to allow the enemy 
to be reenforced and intrench ? General Halleck 
seems to have preferred the latter course; for, with 
nearly fifty thousand men in the armies of Buell and 
Grant, he seems to have made no move whatever in 
more than two weeks! On the 1st of May, he issued 
a general order, transferring Thomas's Division from 
the Army of the Ohio to the Army of Tennessee, 
and giving Thomas the command of Grant's Army, 
Grant retaining the command of the District of Ten- 
nessee. Having made this extraordinary expenditure 
of intellectual vigor (and being reenforced by twenty- 
five thousand men under General Pope) the Com- 
manding General thought it was time to begin. On 
the 1st of May, Monterey, a little town about half 
way to Corinth, was occupied ; and on the 3d of May, 
General Paine, of Pope's Corps, occupied Farmington, 
another little village, from which the rebels hastily 
retired to Corinth ; but, on the 9th, they recaptured 
it, with a large force under Van Dorn and Price. We 
hear no more till we learn that, on the 17th, Sherman 
had carried a position called " Russell's House," ' 
where he could hear distinctly the drums beating in 
Corinth. At last, we are before Corinth ; and now 

1 Sherman's Report, dated May 19th. 



144 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

let us see what we have done, and what the enemy 
has done. Ilalleck assumed command of the army 
on the 13th of April ; he has been reenforced twenty- 
five thousand men, and he has now, on the 17th of 
May, (thirty-five days,) arrived in front of Corinth. 
He has averaged just half a mile per day, without 
meeting any serious resistance. In the mean time, 
the enemy, seeing we had lost the real advantage of 
the victory at Shiloh, began to take courage, reen- 
force, intrench, and make a bold front. Beauregard 
was an engineer officer, and he laid out and began 
to arm fortifications at Corinth, large enough and 
strong enough to have covered an army of a hundred 
thousand men ; and he came near getting them. Van 
Dorn and Price, from Arkansas and Missouri, and 
the garrison of New Orleans, (for we had taken New 
Orleans in April,) came gathering in, and the sup- 
posed strength of the rebel army was not less than 
seventy-five thousand men ; but, one half this great 
army had come there after we ought to have been in 
Corinth. But, in this sort of business, Halleck was 
not to be outdone. He had an immense department, 
and he gathered more than a hundred thousand men 
in front of Corinth. If we had failed to use the 
spade at Shiloh, no such charge could be made 
against us now. The more Beauregard fortified, the 
more we fortified ; and it seemed as if the generals 
of the two armies were making an experiment on the 
possibilities of unlimited digging. The position of 
affairs is thus described by Badeau, who was present: 1 
" The National army moved slowly up toward 

1 Badeau's "Military History," page ioi. 



HALLECK' S SLOW PROGRESS. 145 

Corinth, from the battle-field of Shiloh, after Halleck 
arrived, making no advance except when protected 
by intrenchments. This was greatly to the dissatis- 
faction of both officers and men, to whom such 
operations were new, and seemed to savor of timidity. 
But Halleck had derived a lesson from the assaults 
of Shiloh, and the outcry in consequence ; he was 
determined not to be attacked unawares, and col- 
lected his forces from every quarter of his immense 
department, concentrating a hundred and twenty 
thousand bayonets ; yet it took him six weeks to ad- 
vance less than fifteen miles, the enemy in all that 
while making no offensive movement ; on the con- 
trary, the rebels constructed defenses still more elab- 
orate than those behind which Halleck advanced. 
Beauregard's strength was estimated at seventy thou- 
sand ; he himself reported it at forty-seven thousand, 
and the officers and men of the National army were 
anxious to avail themselves of their vast superiority 
in numbers." 

There must, however, be an end of such perform- 
ances, and at length, on the 30th, Halleck reports to 
Stanton, 1 that our divisions are in the enemy's ad- 
vanced works ; and sure enough the siege of Corinth 
is at an end. This was not, however, till good oppor- 
tunities of fighting and destroying the rebel army 
had been lost. 

But what has become of the enemy? It was be- 
lieved, by Grant and other officers, that Beauregard 
did not intend to remain at Corinth, but was only 
endeavoring to gain time. This was well established 

1 Halleck's Dispatch to Stanton, May 30, 1862. 
13 



146 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

by a reconnoissance of General T. W. Sherman, on 

the 15th of May.' Corinth entered, and the rebels 
already far away, Halleck sent out strong forces in 
pursuit ; but it is not to be supposed Beauregard in- 
tended to be taken, and he was not. He got to Tu- 
pelo when our men got to Baldwin, on the 10th. and 
here the siege and flight of Corinth ended. 

In the mean time, Halleck's Reports were mag- 
nificent. On the 4th of June, he reports Pope thirty 
miles from Florence, Alabama, with forty thousand 
men, and making great numbers of prisoners. On 
the 9th of June, he dispatches, that "the enemy has 
fallen back fifty miles, and that the rebel losses are 
estimated at forty thousand." Time, however, proved 
that considerable deductions had to be made from 
these accounts. 

We may now ask, where was Grant ? He was 
quietly remaining with his troops ; not charged with 
any expedition, or responsible for any conduct of the 
army. Whatever may have been the cause, Grant 
and Buell seem to have been left to their own reflec- 
tions, with the least possible to do with any active 
operations. Grant might be likened to Achilles rest- 
ing in his tent, while Agammemnon led the forces of 
the Greeks ; only that, unlike Achilles, he was not 
inactive by his own will. Once, he ventured to sug- 

1 T. W. Sherman says : "The result of this reconnoissance was re- 
ported to your head-quarters," [those of Major-Genera] Thomas, com- 
manding right wing,] "together with the information obtained from the 
prisoners, among which was the important fact that the rebel com- 
mander had issued orders the day before, that all baggage of the troops, 
except what could be carried in knapsacks, was to be immediately sent 
by the Mobile and Ohio Railroad to Okolona." 



THE REBEL LINE. 147 

gest a movement on the enemy's lines ; but his ad- 
vice being scouted, he never offered it again. Time 
passes on. It was two months before the termina- 
tion of Halleck's Corinthian movement, and now we 
may ask, what is the sum of the results of Shiloh ? 
What is our present situation ? 

On June 6th, Memphis was surrendered to Com- 
modore C. H. Davis,' who in an engagement with the 
rebel flotilla had destroyed or captured it. Memphis, 
as I have observed, was the left or Mississippi point 
of the second line formed by the enemy after Donel- 
son. Corinth was a principal railroad point on that 
line : hence it followed inevitably that, if those points 
were taken and held by us, the enemy's line must fall 
back and be re-formed. They would not like to give 
us Northern Mississippi, nor was it a territory very im- 
portant to us ; but its fall was inevitable, and the rebel 
left wing must fall back on a new defensible line. 
Henceforward, therefore, the rebel left wing rested on 
Vicksburg, its right stretching east to Jackson and 
Meridian, on the Mississippi Railroad ; thence to 
Selma, bearing up to the Memphis and Charleston 
Railroad, and resting at the center on Chattanooga. 
The right wing of the rebel defenses remained un- 
changed, resting at the east on the Rappahannock, 
passing down through the Valley of Virginia, and 
pivoted on Chattanooga, with Knoxville and Cum- 
berland in front of it. Their line ran north from 
Chattanooga just as long as we permitted it, and that 
was till Rosecrans took Chattanooga, which was the 
most important single event, in a strategic point of 

1 Commodore Davis's Report, dated June 6, 1862. 



148 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

view, during the war. From the time the rebel army 
fell back from .Manassas, (March, 1862,) till Grant 
passed the Rapidan, (May, 1864,) more than two 
years, we had marched and countermarched grand 
armies, fought bravely and nobly in twenty battles, 
had victories and defeats, lost one hundred thousand 
men, and not advanced one mile in the actual line of 
attack on the enemy's right or east wing. The reason 
was not in the conduct of the armies, but an error in 
the strategic plan, if plan there was. A vital and 
successful attack on the enemy's line of defenses 
could only be made from the West, and no such a one 
was made till the Mississippi was taken, and the 
whole left wing and center of the rebel forces turned, 
driven back, and the right wing at Richmond cut off 
from its resources. 

But we need not consider this now. It is enough 
to note that the rebel line, first driven back from 
Columbus, Donelson, and Bowling Green, was now 
driven back from Memphis and Corinth. The first 
line was broken ; the second is now broken, and the 
third line is formed through Vicksburg, Jackson, Me- 
ridian, Selma, and Chattanooga. In the mean time 
the brilliant and energetic Mitchel (in these particu- 
lars unsurpassed) had left Buell at Nashville, and 
dashing down over the Tennessee, had arrived at 
Huntsville, 1 North Alabama, and astonished the peo- 
ple on both sides of the line very much as if a me- 
teor had fallen from the skies ; but meteors are not 

1 Mitchel occupied Huntsville May 2d and Rogersville May 14th. 
He remained a few days longer, when he was ordered to South Car- 
olina, and died at Beaufort. 



IMPORTANCE OF CHATTANOOGA. 1 49 

permanent bodies, and this brilliant expedition had 
no permanent results. It was only a raid. Nothing 
short of a hundred thousand men could have main- 
tained Mitchel at Huntsville. The art of war does 
not permit raids to be turned into conquests ; and 
so, whether it was Mitchel or Morgan, Grierson or 
Pleasanton, Bragg or Lee, 1 nothing was made by 
raids which pass tJiroicgJi the enemy's line of de- 
fense without holding it. But this raid of Mitchel's, 
and the driving back of the rebel line from Memphis 
and Corinth, evidently gave the rebel leaders a new 
idea of the importance of Chattanooga, 2 and as evi- 
dently impressed the same idea upon us. Why did 
we not seize Chattanooga in the summer of 1861? 
It matters not. We began to see now what it meant, 
and the rebels saw it clearer than we did. But let us 
hasten to events. Halleck saw Chattanooga looming 
up in the distance, and in the middle of June sent off 
Buell with four divisions, stretching along the Ten- 
nessee, and trying to see if they could not get ahead 
of Bragg, who was going in the same direction. Here 
occurred the first great error of this campaign. We 
had been successful at every point, and now Halleck 
had the finest army which had been assembled, 
greater than that which McClellan led on the Pen- 
insula. What was its object ? It should have accom- 

1 The several marches of Lee across the Potomac, and of Bragg in 
Kentucky, were mere raids across the lines, and resulted in nothing 
but loss, except the capture of provender. 

2 1 was at the Suck of the Tennessee twenty-five years before, when 
Chattanooga was not yet built. I marked the extraordinary defensi- 
bility of the country, and wondered why we did not seize it in the be- 
ginning of the war. 



150 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

plished some great thing, and that great thing lay 
before it. Vicksburg was at that time comparatively 
weak, and if it could be taken at all from the land 
side, then was the time to do it. But the army was 
divided and scattered, and on the Mississippi a year 
of precious time was lost. 

On the 17th of July Halleck was called to the 
chief command at Washington, and left the command 
of the Army of Tennessee to Grant. 1 On the fall of 
Memphis, Grant had been ordered to make his head- 
quarters there, and was then removed to Corinth. 
Now he is left in command of the Army of Tennes- 
see. He has got into his element again, and he will 
not get out of it soon. With five divisions of the 
grand army of Halleck sent away, for such was the 
fact, he is left in a difficult and trying position ; for 
the rebels very soon see that error, and forthwith 
begin to try whether they can not break through, and 
get back their lost line. Grant is greatly annoyed, 
and for several months he is to travel a hard road. 
Leaving Memphis in command of Sherman, and held 
strongly enough, Grant remained at Corinth, fortify- 
ing as well as he could these points, (on two leading 
railroads,) Corinth and Jackson, (at the Junction,) on 
the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, and Bolivar, on the 
Mississippi Central. Every man that Grant could 
possibly spare was sent to Buell, who had already 

1 A singular story is told about this, that when Halleck received the 
appointment of General-in-Chief, he offered the command of the army 
in Mississippi to a Colonel Allen, who was a quarter-master, (supersed- 
ing Grant,) but that Allen had more sense than Halleck, and rejected it. 
I was always skeptical about this, and it may not be true ; but it rests 
on the authority of a letter from Allen himself, quoted by Badeau in his 
"Military History." 



GRANT'S DISPATCH TO HALLE CK. 1 5 I 

been out-marched and out-bragged by General Brax- 
ton Bragg, who had already reached Chattanooga. 
Grant had comparatively few troops, and was held so 
insignificant at the time, that he was troubled with 
few orders. The magnificent march on the peninsula 
of Virginia had been turned into the magnificent raid 
of Lee into Maryland ; both of them, in the end, of 
little importance. Van Dorn and Price, however, 
felt that in such an active state of society they ought 
to take some part. Accordingly, Van Dorn com- 
menced a movement to the east of Grant, either with 
a view of crossing the Tennessee, or of making some 
ulterior operation to the east. This move was made 
by the division under Price, who, on the 13th of Sep- 
tember, advanced from the South and seized Iuka, a 
point on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and 
twenty-one miles east of Corinth. On the 15th, 
Grant telegraphed Halleck : " If I can, I will attack 
Price before he crosses Bear Creek. If he can be 
beaten there, it will prevent the design either to go 
north, or to unite forces and attack here." He had 
been collecting his forces, and when the enemy struck 
Iuka, cutting the railroad and telegraph wires be- 
tween them and Corinth, Grant began operations. 
Van Dorn was far to the south-west, threatening Cor- 
inth, and he meant to divide them and destroy Price. 
Rosecrans, (who then commanded Pope's troops,) 
moved south of the railroad, to cut off the roads by 
which Price could retreat ; and Ord, with a corps of 
eight thousand, was moved out on the railroad, (and 
a train of cars ready,) so that he could move up to 
help Rosecrans, or back to defend Corinth, (for Van 



152 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Dorn might attack Corinth.) The arrangement was 
a good one ; but bad roads (as is often the case) de- 
layed Rosecrans, so that he got up only in the after- 
noon instead of the morning. The result was, the 
enemy were prepared, and attacked him. There was 
a hard fight,' but the rebels, finding themselves likely 
to be cut off, retreated on the only road left. The 
rebels were foiled entirely in their plans, and escaped 
destruction only by treachery. 2 The rebels were 
foiled, but not crippled. Price moved back and joined 
Van Dorn, and the same old game of annoyance to 
Grant was continued. 

It seems, from what followed, and the new rebel 
officers who appeared on the scene, that the enemy 
was largely reen forced, probably from Arkansas and 
Louisiana. They had over thirty thousand men, 
(Rosecrans said thirty-eight thousand,) and were bent 
on striking a blow. The object was soon perceived 
to be Corinth. About this time, Grant telegraphed 
to Washington: "My position is precarious, but I 
hope to get out of it all right." Rosecrans then cora- 

1 " Head-quarters Army of the Mississippi, two miles ) 
South of Iuka, September 19, 1862 — 10 1-2, P. M. J 
"Major-General U. S. Grant: 

" Genera/ — We met the enemy in force just above this point. The 
engagement lasted several hours. We have lost two or three pieces of 
artillery. Firing was very heavy. You must attack in the morning and 
in force. The ground is horrid, unknown to us, and no room for devel- 
opment. Could n't use our artillery at all ; fired hut few shots. Push 
in on them till we can have time to do something. We will try to get 
a position on our right which will take Iuka. 

"W. S. Rosecrans, Brigadier-General.'" 

2 Badeau says, that Colonel Thompson, a Confederate officer, told 
General Ord, that a Dr. Burton had passed himself on Rosecrans as a 
I 'nion spy, and then returned to Price, and gave him the information 
he required. 



REBELS IN FRONT OF CORINTH. 1 53 

manded at Corinth, 1 and Grant immediately directed 
him to call in his troops, and ordered McPherson, 
with a brigade, to his support. On the 2d of Octo- 
ber, Van Dorn, with the Confederate Generals Price, 
Lovell, Villipigue, and Rust, appeared in front of 
Corinth, to light again for Northern Mississippi. A 
month before, as I have said, Grant had been fortify- 
ing, as far as he could, Corinth, Jackson, and Bolivar, 
and we now see the end gained by it. Rosecrans, 
having about nineteen thousand men, had pushed out 
to see whether he could not be the one to attack ; 
but he was mistaken in that, for, on the afternoon of 
the 3d of October, Van Dorn attacked, and drove him 
back to the town. New dispositions were made, and 
the line of our forts was far stronger than the enemy 
supposed. General Van Dorn, having driven our 
forces, telegraphed to Richmond a great victory ! In 
the art of prophetic telegraphing, the rebel Generals 
seem to have had a remarkable faculty. Most proba- 
bly they thought every battle must be a Bull Run. 
Never were they more disastrously disappointed than 
now. We had inner works, 2 with strong forts. There 
was Fort Robinette on the left, and Battery William, 
and Battery Powell. 

On the 4th of October a great battle was fought. 
The rebel lines were closed within a thousand yards 

1 Rosecrans had arrived at Corinth, from Iuka, on the 26th. 

2 Coppee says : " Immediately upon General Halleck's departure for 
Washington, these works were pushed forward with energy, and by the 
25th of September, when Rosecrans took command, they were nearly 
completed. To Major Prime, under General Grant's orders, belongs 
the credit of laying out and constructing the fortifications against which 
the enemy was now about to hurl his masses, with impetuous but un- 
availing valor." 



154 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

of our works, and during the night they had thrown 
up some batteries in our front. In the morning they 
began with an artillery fire, which was soon silenced; 
then, at half-past nine, A. M., they stormed the right, 
at Battery Powell, where Generals T. A. Davies and 
Hamilton were posted. Here they made some im- 
pression, but the fight was terrific. The account of 
it is thus given by Professor Coppee: 

"The battle raged upon Davies and Fort Powell. 
The Bolivar road, by which they came, was swept by 
our guns ; huge gaps were made in their column, but, 
without halting, they opened out in a loose deploy- 
ment, encircling our lines, and losing fearfully as they 
came up. Nothing stopped them. 'They came up,' 
(writes an eye-witness to the 'Cincinnati Commercial,' 
October 9th,) ' with their faces averted, like men striving 
to protect themselves against a driving storm of hail' 
They reach the broad glacis ; our troops are on the 
rude covered way, and will certainly repel them, were 
it not for an unaccountable panic which struck a por- 
tion of Davies's Division. This will never do. Davies 
struggles manfully to check it. Rosecrans flies into 
their midst, fights like a simple grenadier, and, with 
entreaties, threats, and the flat of his saber, puts an 
end to the 'untimely and untoward stampede,' which 
was but partial after all." 

Davies's men rally. Sullivan comes to his aid ; 
they retake Battery Powell, (into which a few of the 
enemy had got,) and Hamilton sweeps the avenues 
of approach. Price has lost the fight, and on his 
side it is over. 

On our left, (the enemy's right,) says Coppee, 



REBEL DEFEA T AT CORINTH. I 5 5 

" the attack was conducted by Van Dorn in person. 
Under cover of a cloud of skirmishers he had formed 
his men in column of attack, and twenty minutes 
after Price moved forward he launched four columns 
upon Battery Robinette and our adjacent lines. His 
heavy guns are disposed in rear. Then began those 
'gorgeous pyrotechnics of the battle,' spoken of by 
General Rosecrans, the description of which he leaves 
to 'pens dipped in poetic ink.' The fighting was in- 
deed Homeric. From the moment they came in 
sight, till they were within fifty yards of the work, 
they were mowed, and torn, and shattered by grape, 
shell, and canister ; and when, after a gallant advance, 
these brave Mississippi and Texas troops pause for a 
breathing space, before a final charge, the Ohio and 
Missouri regiments, which have been lying flat, rise at 
a signal, and pour in a volley, before which the enemy 
reel and fall back in horror. But even this does not 
keep them long dismayed. They came to take Cor- 
inth, and they are not going to give it up so easily." 
Again and again the rebel columns charged, and 
again and again were routed. At length they gave 
way and retired. They had lost the battle ; a battle 
to them at least of immense importance; for, had 
they succeeded, we should have lost all we had gained 
by the battle of Shiloh. But their star in the West 
had sunk, and sunk darkly on their fortunes. They 
never did regain any thing which they lost at Donel- 
son and Shiloh. Raids, from Bragg' s down to Mor- 
gan's, they did make ; but never again did they win 
back the great battle-field of the West. The sun of 
victory continued to shine gloriously on Grant, and 



156 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

he won in the West more than enough to counter- 
balance the failure on the Potomac. The rebels, in 
addition to their defeat, lost heavily, 1 and were glad, by 
a rapid retreat, to save themselves from destruction. 2 

Rosecrans well deserved all the applause which 
followed him for this battle, which, as a battle, was 
fought by him ; but Grant had directed the movement 
and combination of forces which resulted in victory. 
After the end he issued an Order, of which the follow- 
ing is a paragraph : 

"It is with heart-felt gratitude the General com- 
manding congratulates the armies of the West for 
another great victory won by them on the 3d, 4th, 
and 5 th instant, over the combined armies of Van 
Dorn, Price, and Lovell. 

" The enemy chose his own time and place of at- 
tack, and knowing the troops of the West as he does, 

1 1 see no rebel account of losses, and it is said our Government 
has no detailed account of the battle, but Rosecrans made a full Re- 
port, from which I take the following account of rebel loss : 

"The enemy's loss in killed was 1,423 officers and men; their loss 
in wounded, taking the general average, amounts to 5,692. We took 
2,248 prisoners, among whom are one hundred and thirty-seven field 
officers, captains, and subalterns, representing fifty-three regiments of 
infantry, sixteen regiments of cavalry, thirteen batteries of artillery, 
and seven battalions, making sixty-nine regiments, six battalions, and 
thirteen batteries, besides separate companies. 

" We took also fourteen stands of colors, two pieces of artillery, 
3,300 stand of arms, 4,500 rounds of ammunition, and a large lot of 
accouterments. The enemy bjew up several wagons between Corinth 
and Chewalla, and beyond Chewalla many ammunition wagons and 
carriages were destroyed, and the ground was strewn with tents, officers' 
mess-chests, and small arms. We pursued them forty miles in force 
and sixty miles with cavalry." 

2 A letter in the "Grenada Appeal," in the Rebellion Record, Vol. 
V, page 505, praises their Generals for making their escape on the 
Hatchie. 



GENERAL ROSECRANS, 1 57 

and with great facilities for knowing their numbers, 
never would have made the attempt, except with a 
superior force numerically. But for the undaunted 
bravery of officers and soldiers, who have yet to learn 
defeat, the efforts of the enemy must have proven 
successful." 1 

Badeau, in his "Military History," intimates that 
Grant was dissatisfied with Rosecrans, and that the 
latter was not quick to obey. This is zeal without 
discretion. There was no officer of the army whose 
military career will bear criticism better than that of 
Rosecrans, and probably not a General in command 
during the war who \yas more competent to his place. 
Grant made no complaint of Rosecrans, and his mili- 
tary character needs no support from the glossing of 
prejudice or partiality. Since the departure of Hal- 
leck, Grant had been left free to pursue his own 
judgment,, and though compelled by the reduction of 
his forces to keep on the defensive, we see that his 
defensive was in reality offensive by becoming vic- 
tory. After the second Corinth, Grant combined the 
divisions of Ord, Hurlbut, and Rosecrans, in pursuit 
of the enemy, so that Price barely escaped in cross- 
ing the Hatchie. When, however, the forces of the 
enemy had got beyond the Hatchie, Grant recalled 
his divisions, and for a few weeks there was com- 
parative quiet. 

On the 8th of October, Lincoln congratulated 
Grant, in a dispatch, and asked, " How does it all sum 
upf 1 Certainly, this is a very pertinent question. 

1 Grant's Order, October 2d. 

2 Rebellion Record, Vol. V, page 500. 



158 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

The sum of those operations was twofold. First, 
we secured what we had got, by Shiloh and the first 
Corinth. We maintained North Mississippi, and 
opened the way to Vicksburg. I said, that as each 
line of rebel defense was broken, it was never re- 
gained, nor even passed, except by mere raids. But, 
suppose the battle of Corinth had been lost, what 
then ? Why, we should have inevitably lost the 
whole ground we had got after the battle of Shiloh. 
Grant directed all the movements by which we were 
successful ; but, suppose a less skillful and less de- 
termined commander than Rosecrans had fought that 
battle, defeat would have been very possible, and the 
results might have been very different. 1 But the 
enemy was defeated and driven back, with another 
effect, not less important. This was the moral effect. 
Throughout the war this was of the greatest import- 
ance. The war was largely the result of a conflict 
of moral ideas. I have stated how profoundly im- 
pressed the rebel mind was with the fighting of our 
soldiers at Shiloh. It was scarcely less impressed 
with the fighting at Iuka and Corinth. The rebel 
generals were inferior in capacity; their loss very 
great, and their shattered forces retreated, with a 
salutary conviction that Western men were brave, 
daring, and enduring. 

We have a month before us now in which to look 
round and consider our condition. The armies came 

1 A very fine account of the battle of Corinth was given at the time, 
by Mr. Bickham, correspondent of the "Cincinnati Commercial," now 
fcditor of the " Dayton Journal," who gives the whole credit to Rose- 
crans. Badeau gives it all to Grant. The battle of Corinth was due 
to Rosecrans, and the general movement to Grant. 



PHTSICIANS AND NURSES. 1 59 

from the people ; and as the rivers can not live without 
springs, so the armies were continually recruited and 
refreshed from the people. I have described how, 
when Sumpter was fired on, the American women 
asked, " What shall we do ?" how the Sanitary Com- 
mission was formed ; and how, when the Cumberland 
ran with the blood of Donelson, the Sanitary Com- 
mission of Cincinnati flew, with healing on its wings, 
to comfort the weary and the wounded soldiers. The 
guns of Shiloh had scarcely ceased their roar, when 
the Sanitary Commission entered the field. The 
Commission at Cincinnati chartered the Tycoon and 
the Monarch, two large vessels, furnished them with 
volunteer physicians and nurses, supplied them with 
all the necessaries, comforts, and delicacies which 
suffering men might need, and proceeded at once to 
the scene of action. 1 To this work General Halleck 
gave his full authority, 2 and requested boats to be 
sent, and Camp Dennison to be fitted up for the 
wounded. The Tycoon, the first boat, left Cincin- 
nati with fifteen surgeons, twenty-four medical stu- 
dents, thirty-eight citizen nurses, and two druggists. 
She was fitted with every thing the body of man 
could need, contributed in a few hours by the citizens 
of Cincinnati. As she passed down the river, the 
moral victory of Donelson and Shiloh was every- 
where evident. A gentleman, who had been down 
the river the year before, remarked that there was a 
great change. Then, both sides of the Ohio seemed 
to show the signs of disloyalty. The flag of the 

1 Mansfield's " History of the Cincinnati Sanitary Commission." 

2 Halleck's Dispatch, 10th of April, 1862. 



160 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Union was seldom seen,' and the people were de- 
claiming against the Government. Now the scene 
was changed. As the boat descended the river, on 
her mission of patriotic charity, she was constantly 
greeted with the waving of flags and handkerchiefs 
from either shore. On the 17th the "Tycoon" re- 
turned, loaded with wounded soldiers. On the Com- 
mission went in its noble work. The people spared 
no offerings. The Commission spared no labor or 
zeal. How many of the wounded and the suffering 
must have owed their lives to this noble work of the 
Christian patriot ! 

As the army still pursued its course to the South, 
the Sanitary Commission was more needed, and more 
zealously put forth its energies. In the summer of 
1862 the Cincinnati Commission put forth an appeal 
to the women. 

" Women of the North-West ! Your husbands, 
brothers, sons, your and our dearest, are, or soon 
will be, in the field. If one of them, by any want 
of effort, suffers, it will be your and our irremediable 
fault. The business of the men of the country 
is now war. Let it be also the business of her 
women. The former are to march, toil, and fight ; 
let the latter work with equal energy and patriotism 
in their own sphere, and labor for the common good. 
Then will the march be bereft of half its fatigue, the 
battle of more than half its danger, and the bless- 
ings of generations to come shall rest upon you." 

Such was the ardent appeal of the Commission 

1 A lady in Kentucky told me, that for three miles on one side of 
her home, and eight on the other, there was not a loyal man ! This 
shows what Kentucky neutrality was worth. 



RESPONSE TO SANITART COMMISSION. l6l 

to the women of the West, and most nobly did they 
respond ! Hundreds of villages, scattered over the 
North-West, heard and answered that appeal. Aid 
societies of every kind were formed. Church circles 
met and sewed garments for the soldiers, with all the 
zeal which they would have put forth in the holy 
cause of missions. Daily the contributions came in 
from every quarter of the land ; daily the Commis- 
sion met, and sent forth its charities; daily the 
wounded and sick returned from the far-distant bat- 
tle-fields ; daily they were put in hospitals and 
camps, and often did the delicate lady and the young 
girl volunteer to watch by the soldier's side, and 
nurse his sick form and beguile his weary hours. It 
seems to me, as I look back upon the scenes of that 
war, that nothing in it was more beautiful or glorious 
than this work of Christian charity. Shall we de- 
spair of the Republic, when patriotism nerves to such 
heroism, and Christianity impels to such noble benev- 
olence ? It was not merely Republicanism, it was 
Christianity, whose strength was illustrated by that 
war. The Republic stands not only on the strength 
of the people, but on the strength of Christianity. 
If it did not, we might well despair ; but, with it, the 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The Chris- 
tian at home thought of the soldier in the field : 

" No base ambitions quickened these ; 

They saw but Freedom's need ; 
No dreams of flow'ry paths of ease, 

No bribe but valor's meed ; 
And some shall win the hero's grave, 

The battle-smoke their pall ; 
But honor dwells where fall the brave, 

And God is over all ! " 

14 



1 62 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



CHAPTER VII. 

VICKSBURG. 

Lincoln's order to mcclernand — grant's bold proposi- 
tion TO HALLECK — HIS ADMINISTRATIVE ABILITY — HIS 

MARCH ON HOLLY SPRINGS AND OXFORD — HIS FAILURE 

SHERMAN ASSAULTS VICKSBURG, AND FAILS — TROOPS WITH- 
DRAWN, AND NEW PLAN OF ACTION — GRAND ARMY AS- 
SEMBLES AT YOUNG'S POINT — DIGS CANALS — TRIES THE 
YAZOO — THE MISSISSIPPI CONQUERS THE CANAL, AND THE 
ARMY WAITS FOR NEW MOVEMENTS. 

AFTER the battles terminating with the 6th of 
October, Grant felt a strong desire to advance, 
and if possible seize Vicksburg, by a land route. But 
this seems to have been subsequent to the determin- 
ation of Mr. Lincoln to proceed immediately with the 
Mississippi campaign. This appears from the follow- 
ing "confidential" Order, issued by Mr. Lincoln, and 
dated October 21, 1862: 

" Ordered, that Major-General McClernand be, and he is directed 
to proceed to the States of Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, to organize 
the troops remaining in those States and to be raised by volunteering 
or draft, and forward them with all dispatch to Memphis, Cairo, or 
such other points as may hereafter be designated by the General-in- 
Chief, to the end that, when a sufficient force, not recpiired by the 
operations of General Grant's command, shall be raised, an expedi- 
tion may be organized under General McClernand's command, against 



GRANTS BOLD PROPOSITION. 1 63 

Vicksburg, and to clear the Mississippi River and open navigation to 
New Orleans." 

Indorsement: "This order, though marked 'confidential,' maybe 
shown by General McClernand to governors, and even others, when, 
in his discretion, he believes so doing to be indispensable to the 
progress of the expedition. I add, that I feel deep interest in the 
success of the expedition, and desire it to be pushed forward with 
all possible dispatch, consistently with the other parts of the military 
service. A. Lincoln." 

This Order l evidently aims at an expedition down 
the river, and independent of Grant's command. The 
result proved, that, as an independent expedition, it 
was ill-advised, and, we shall see, by Grant's subse- 
quent movements, that an independent land expedi- 
tion was equally so. 

On the 26th of October, Grant wrote to Halleck, 
making the bold proposition to abandon Corinth and 
the inferior posts about it — destroy all the railroads 
leading to and from Corinth — and (said he) " with 
small reinforcements at Memphis, I would be able to 
move down the Mississippi Central Road, and cause 
the evacuation of Vicksburg. I am ready, however, 
to do with my might whatever you may direct, 
without criticism." Grant was a little mistaken in 
this plan ; but the close of this letter shows one of 
his greatest virtues — his perfect willingness to do 
what he was directed to do, without jealousy, and 
without criticism. Grant assumed nothing. He was 
not vain enough to believe he was the only man of 
sense in the world, and he had none of that impuls- 
ive, or rather thoughtless, spirit, which took fire at 
some small or imaginary slight. He was above all 

1 I am indebted to Badeau's " Military History " for this Order, 
which I have not found elsewhere. 



164 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

such weakness. Mere vanity, self-importance, and 
jealousy cost some of the really able generals of 
the war their places and their means of usefulness. 
Whether it was temperament or self-command, Grant 
gained by a want of these weaknesses, and hence was 
perfectly willing to follow Halleck's plan, if his own 
was rejected. Halleck, however, before receiving 
Grant's letter, had coolly telegraphed him, " Be pre- 
pared to concentrate your troops in case of attack." 
The commanding General at Washington was always 
prepared to resist attacks. In the mean while, Grant 
had been exercising his administrative ability to great 
advantage. He limited the number and kinds of 
trains, baggage, etc., cutting down impedimenta to 
the smallest amount ; and, it has been humorously 
said, reducing his own baggage to a — tooth-brush ! 
There is no question that almost all armies carry too 
much baggage ; and, as I have read the accounts of 
the comfortable provisions, and even luxuries, in the 
tents of some of our officers, I have felt that a com- 
manding general, who knew his duty and the true 
science of war, would suffer no such things. A re- 
publican army should be a Spartan army, filled with 
the fire of patriotism, and willing to endure all hard- 
ships for love of country. Grant had divided his 
army into four corps : the first, under Major-General 
Sherman, had its head-quarters at Memphis ; the sec- 
ond, Major-General Hurlbut, at Jackson ; the third, 
under Brigadier-General C. S. Hamilton, at Corinth ; 
and the fourth, General T. A. Davies, at Columbus. 
On the 2d of November, Grant, having received no 
orders to the contrary, moved with three divisions 



MARCH ON HOLLY SPRINGS AND OXFORD. 1 65 

from Corinth and two from Bolivar, writing this to 
Halleck. Halleck approved of his advance, but did 
not authorize the abandonment of the position ; 
so Grant moved with three divisions. His army 
amounted to about thirty thousand men, McPherson 
commanding the right wing, and C. S. Hamilton the 
left. He knew the enemy was about equal to him, 
but felt perfectly confident. 1 In a few days he had 
made a rapid and successful advance. On the 4th 
he occupied La Grange, (near Grand Junction,) on 
the Memphis and Charleston Railroad ; and on the 
13th Colonel Lee, Chief of Cavalry, took possession 
of Holly Springs, (Miss.) ; and on the morning of the 
29th Grant passed that place with the main body. 
In the mean time the cavalry were far in advance, 
keeping up a constant skirmishing. Holly Springs is 
about twenty-five miles from Grand Junction, and in 
the richest part of Mississippi. In the next five or 
six days several skirmishes took place, and, on the 
17th of December, Grant had his head-quarters at 
Oxford, Mississippi, about twenty-five miles in advance 
of Holly Springs and fifty miles from Grand Junc- 
tion. The cavalry had penetrated to CofTeeville. 
This was the situation of Grant on the 18th of De- 
cember, and, leaving him there, we must return and 
try to find out what he had planned, and what this 
campaign means. I have already stated that the war 
could only end by a campaign carried on from the 
West. Hence the Mississippi River was the axis on 
which the war turned ; and when we fully possessed 

: He wrote Sherman that the enemy was thirty thousand, and he 
could handle him without gloves. — Badeau. 



1 66 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the Mississippi, it was the grand base from which our 
columns poured cast, cutting off resources and lines 
of communication as we went. In the progress of 
the campaign on the Mississippi we had taken New 
Orleans, (April, 1862,) and previously Columbus, Isl- 
and No. 10, and Memphis, driving the rebels from 
both their first and their second line of defense, rest- 
ing on the Mississippi ; and now, their third and only 
line from the Mississippi rested on Vicksburg ; and 
below that, they held Port Hudson, making a reach 
on the Mississippi, which they had perfect command 
of, and which was of vast importance to them. Noth- 
ing they had was of more importance. Through that 
they brought their beef cattle from Texas, the only 
portion of the Confederacy which had a surplus ; 
through that they kept communication with the im- 
portant States of Arkansas and Texas, receiving re- 
enforcements of men and provisions. The Trans- 
Mississippi (except Missouri) was of no consequence 
to us, (and the Banks raid up Red River was an 
absurd expedition,) but of the greatest consequence 
to them. Hence, about the time that Grant was get- 
ting up his combined attack on Vicksburg, (that is, 
his first one, of which we are now speaking,) the 
rebels clearly foresaw the absolute necessity of hold- 
ing Vicksburg and Port Hudson. They accordingly 
fortified them in the strongest manner. We have the 
testimony of Jefferson Davis precisely to this point. 
In his speech before the Legislature of Mississippi, 
on December 26, 1862, ' he says: "Vicksburg and 
Port Hudson are the real points of attack. Every 

1 See " Rebellion Record," Vol. VI, page 297. 



DEFENSES OF VICKSBURG. 1 67 

effort will be made to capture those places, with the 
view of forcing the navigation of the Mississippi, of 
cutting off our communications with the Trans-Mis- 
sissippi Department, and of severing the Western 
from the Eastern portion of the Confederacy." He 
dwelt largely upon the defenses of Vicksburg. After 
stating the failure of the attack by the fleet, (which 
had been made some time before,) he says, "a 
few earth-works were thrown up, a few guns were 
mounted," and Vicksburg received the shock of both 
fleets. The important point made, and which must 
be remembered in considering the movement now go- 
ing on, is this : " Now, we are far better prepared in 
that quarter. The woi r ks, tJien weak, have been greatly 
strengthened ; the troops assigned for their defense are 
better disciplined, atid better instructed ; and that great 
soldier who came witli me has been pouring in his 
forces to assist in its protection." Who was this great 
soldier ? This was Joseph E. Johnston. Davis says 
he brought him with him. Pemberton had been in 
command ; but, as early certainly as the 26th of De- 
cember, Johnston took command of the Department, 
and Pemberton of the particular forces at Vicksburg. 
This being the situation of the rebels, and the 
condition of their defenses, let me ask, What was 
Grant's plan ? It seems, from numbers of letters 
and dispatches,' that Grant wanted to move forward 
by land in connection with the river expedition, 
which, as we have seen by Lincoln's order, had been 
previously directed. This was fully assented to by 
Halleck, who firmly supported Grant at this time, 

'These are quoted in Badeau's "Military History." 



l68 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

and fully approved by General Sherman, who was to 
take part in it. Accordingly, the plan agreed upon 
was this : Grant was to move down by Holly Springs 
and Oxford to Grenada, there to hold Pemberton in 
check, while Sherman was to descend the Mississippi 
and attack Vicksburg. At the same time a force 
under General Washburn was to land at Delta 
(Yazoo Pass) and strike for Grenada, with a view of 
cutting Pemberton's communication. Sherman stated 
the case thus: 1 "Grant moved direct on Pemberton, 
while I moved from Memphis, and a smaller force 
under General Washburn struck directly for Gre- 
nada ; and the first thing Pemberton knew the depot 
of his supplies was almost in the grasp of a small 
cavalry force, and he fell back in confusion, and gave 
us the Tallahatchie without a battle." 

It would have been better if Pemberton had not 
been scared back. It was Grant's idea to fight, 
and, if possible, to destroy the enemy's armies ; but 
Pemberton's retreat gave no opportunity to fight, 
while the prolongation of Grant's line did give oppor- 
tunity, as we shall presently see, for a very different 
feat on the part of the enemy. This combined move- 
ment on the part of Grant, Sherman, and Washburn 
has been called by a military critic a very brilliant 
piece of strategy. 2 Whatever it might have been in 
theory, it was disastrous in fact. Besides, it had one 
essential defect. To move an army parallel with the 
Mississippi without supports on it, could only be 
done with overwhelming forces, able to garrison and 

1 Sherman's speech at St. Louis. 

2 See criticism in Coppee's "Grant and his Campaigns." 



GRANT'S ONLY FAILURE. 1 69 

hold each depot beyond the power of assault. Grant's 
forces were not large enough for this. This might 
easily have been done and Vicksburg captured, in 
my opinion, if Halleck had pushed promptly on from 
Corinth. The defenses of Vicksburg were then weak, 
and it would have inevitably fallen. But the time for 
this was now passed. 

This combined movement being planned, let us 
now see what actually happened. On the night of the 
1 8th of December the telegraph wires in the rear of 
Grant were cut at several points, and on the 20th 
Van Dorn, who had moved round Grant's army in a 
well-devised and well-executed raid, captured Holly 
Springs, with Grant's main depot of supplies, and 
millions of dollars in property. It is true, this at- 
tack at Holly Springs might have been resisted, and 
that the place was unnecessarily and disgracefully 
surrendered. But, whether taken or not, the plan of 
Grant's expedition had this essential fault, that it 
was prolonging a land line without water supports, 
which was at any time liable to this very misfortune. 
Here, I must remark, that this was Grant's only fail- 
ure, 1 and there is no great military commander who 
has been without failures. General Sherman em- 
barked at Memphis, on a hundred transports, with 
thirty thousand men, on the same day, (20th of De- 
cember,) and at Helena was reenforced with twelve 
thousand more, making an army of forty-two thou- 

1 Trenton and Humboldt were entered and captured by the rebel 
forces on the same day by Forrest, showing that it was not merely 
the capture of Holly Springs which made the difficulty ; it was that 
the communications could be cut at any time. 

I? 



170 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

sand men. For one week Grant's communications 
with the Mississippi were entirely cut off, and Sher- 
man heard nothing of him, so that this grand river 
expedition was entirely independent of any support 
from Grant, and, in fact, needed none. On the 24th 
Sherman reached Milliken's Bend, and on the 26th 
successfully disembarked near the mouth of Yazoo 
River. Vicksburg lies on a bluff, which is part of a 
long line of bluffs and hills, nearly three hundred feet 
in hight, and touching the Yazoo at Haines's Bluff, 
which was strongly fortified, and from which down 
the fortifications extended. These fortifications Sher- 
man attacked on the 27th with four divisions, and 
utterly failed. He lost heavily, 1 and the enemy but 
little, and on the 30th raised the siege, (if an assault 
can be called a siege,) reembarked, and sailed out of 
the Yazoo. This was the end of the grand land and 
water combined attack on Vicksburg. Grant had all 
his communications cut, his main depot of supplies 
destroyed, and, for one week, was isolated. On the 
23d he was back at Holly Springs. Sherman sailed 
the very day Grant's communications were destroyed, 
was defeated at Vicksburg, and on the 30th was back 
again. Sherman very naively says that his failure 
was owing " to the strength of the enemy's position, 
both natural and artificial." Very probable ! Vicks- 
burg was strong naturally, but what made it so 
strong artificially? I have already quoted (page 167) 
Davis's statement, in his speech to the Legislature, 
made on the 26th of December, that, after the fall 

'He lost 175 killed, 930 wounded, and 743 missing, making 
1,848, being eightfold the loss of the enemy. 



McCLERNAND IN COMMAND. ijl 

of Corinth, Vicksburg had been strongly fortified, 
and that J. E. Johnston had been put in command. 
The time had passed when Vicksburg was to be 
taken by a coup de main. The truth is very simple, 
and now evident to all, that the long delays of Hal- 
leck after Corinth, and his subsequent division of the 
army for fear of Bragg s movement, (which actually 
took place,) were the cause of losing the golden oppor- 
tunity of capturing Vicksburg in July or August. 

In the mean time Grant had learned a very im- 
portant fact, (which was afterward successfully applied 
by Sherman,) that our army could subsist itself in tlie 
South. For a week Grant had to get his supplies as 
he could from the country. The enemy were re- 
joicing that he would have to starve or retreat ; but 
he soon informed them, to their astonishment, that 
he should live on their provisions. These he found 
were more than enough ; and he found out that when 
there was need of it, the army could subsist in the 
enemy s country without depots ; for at that time Mis- 
sissippi, and indeed all the South, was rich in food. 

On the 4th of January, 1863, 1 McClernand assumed 
the command of the whole Mississippi expedition. To 
understand this it is only necessary to read Lincoln's 
Order, at the head of this chapter, which McClernand 
claimed, and Lincoln subsequently admitted and in- 
dorsed, gave him the command of the Mississippi 
expedition. It has been said that Sherman hurried 
the expedition off out of jealousy of McClernand. It 
was hurried off to get rid of McClernand, but for a 
very different reason. The fact was, that neither 

1 Sherman's Order, January 4th. Rebellion Record, Vol. VI, p. 317. 



172 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Halleck, Grant, Sherman, nor the officers generally, 
had any confidence in McClernand's military abilities. 1 
Lincoln had given him the command, against the ad- 
vice of all the regular officers, for McClernand had 
been a friend, and I believe partner, of Lincoln's in 
Illinois. At any rate, here is McClernand at Milli- 
ken's Bend, in command. What next is to be done ? 
One good thing McClernand did immediately. Up 
the Arkansas was Fort Hindman, or, as generally 
called, "Arkansas Post." This was of very little mili- 
tary consequence, but had, at that time, a large body 
of the enemy's forces, and considerable artillery. 
Against this post McClernand immediately moved his 
forces, by White River and a cut-off, into the Arkansas. 
The fort, artillery, and thousands of prisoners were 
taken. It was a fair set-off against the failure at 
Vicksburg, and answered the purpose of inspiriting 
the people, who, at that time, were discouraged by 
several reverses. 2 

On the ioth of January, 1863, Grant established 
his head-quarters at Memphis, writing to McClernand 
that he had heard nothing from the expedition since 
Sherman left, and adding, that " if there is force 
enough within the limits of my control to secure a 
certain victory at Vicksburg, they will be sent there." 

On the 17th of January Grant paid a visit to the 
transport fleet lying at Napoleon, and there he seems 
to have intimated his first conviction of the plan, 

1 A full statement of this affair is given in Badeau's "Military His- 
tory," pages 128-130, and it is fully sustained by the letters, telegrams, 
orders, etc., at the time. 

2 Sec ficneral McClernand's Report, dated January 20, 1863. Re- 
bellion Record, Vol. VI, page 360. 



OPERA TIONS A GAINS T VICKSB UR G. 1 73 

which, after various trials, was at last fully successful. 
He wrote to Halleck : " Our troops must get bclozv the 
city to be used effectually!' After his return from 
Napoleon, he wrote, on the 20th, that " the work of 
reducing Vicksburg will take time and mcu, but can 
be accomplished" Here, then, Grant seems to have 
arrived at a full comprehension of the nature of the 
problem, and of the means of solving it. He was to 
get below Vicksburg, and then cut off its supplies, and 
invest it from the interior. But the problem for the 
time seemed literally impossible. Not only Vicks- 
burg and its bluff, but from Haines's Bluff, on the 
ridge of hills some twelve miles above, to Warrenton, 
six miles below, was almost a continued line of bat- 
teries, so that it did not seem possible to get supplies, 
with provisions and munitions, to say nothing of 
troops, below. Then, as for going round, while the 
whole country was intersected with rivers, bayous, 
swamps, and the low grounds overflowed at high 
water, that seemed impracticable. The problem was 
a hard one ; and we shall soon see that Grant had 
his own ideas on the subject, and was not much in- 
debted to any plans at Washington. 

Grant now commenced operations. He ordered 
the whole army lying at Napoleon to Young's Point, 
where they arrived on the 21st. Young's Point is on 
the western side of the Mississippi, about nine miles 
above Vicksburg, and nearly opposite the mouth of 
the Yazoo. Grant's own army was moved to Mem- 
phis, and embarked on one hundred and twenty-five 
transports. These were the veteran soldiers of the 
West. To the vast army now concentrating at 



174 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Young's Point was added a large number of gun- 
boats — the Chillicothe, Indianola, Lafayette, East- 
port, and a number of others, many of them iron- 
clads, formed a most formidable river navy. Soon 
this vast armament was assembled. On the 29th 
Grant himself arrived, and on the 30th assumed com- 
mand. The old difficulty with McClernand remained, 
but was soon settled. Grant was commander of the 
Department, and, therefore, had a right to command. 
But he and Halleck, who was now supporting Grant 
most effectually, at last prevailed with Lincoln, and 
Grant received authority to put whomsoever he pleased 
in command. Accordingly Grant issued a General 
Order, which put McClernand in command of the 
Thirteenth Army Corps. McClernand inquired if it 
was the intention of that Order to limit his command 
to that Corps? To which Grant emphatically replied 
it was. 1 So that matter was settled ; but Grant wrote 
to Halleck he was not ambitious of the command, 
and with the same discreet prudence he had hereto- 
fore displayed, said he was willing to do all he could 
in any position assigned him; 7 but he determined to 
go with the expedition himself. 

Grant saw that the long line of fortifications in 
front, at, and around Vicksburg, could not be assaulted 
with success, and, therefore, the problem was, how to 
get below. Here we must remember that Port Hud- 
son below shut up the river there, else Banks and 
his army, which, in the mean time, were to cooperate 

' Mi I demand's letters of January 30th and February 1st, and Grant's, 
January 31st. 

2 Grant's Letter to Halleck, February I, 1863. 



CANALS AND CUT-OFFS. 1 75 

with Grant, (but which never did,) might have come 
up and helped. But Banks and his flotilla were com- 
pletely cut off, and the problem for Grant was, not 
to join Banks below Port Hudson — that would do no 
good — but to get on the Mississippi, between Vicks- 
burg and Port Hudson, so that he could be fed there 
long enough to invest Vicksburg and complete his 
communications. It did not, as we shall see, make 
much difference as to the particular point, provided 
it was low enough to flank the Vicksburg outworks. 
But how to get below, that is the question. Grant's 
first idea, as a possibility, was a cut-off of the pen- 
insula in front of Vicksburg, or, an approach by a 
succession of water-courses from Yazoo Pass ; in 
one word, some water communication, by which he 
could transport his men and stores. On the 22d he 
wrote to McClernand, " I hope the work of changing 
the channel of the Mississippi is begun ;" and also, 
" On the present rise it is barely possible that the 
Yazoo Pass might be turned to good account in aid- 
ing our enterprise." [ This was his first thought ; but 
it does not seem ever to have impressed his mind 
with any conviction of success. Indeed, for three 
months, the army and the public were amused with 
a succession of efforts to make canals and cut-offs on 
the Mississippi. I shall not trace out these various 
operations, which are really interesting only to the 
engineers and soldiers employed on them. The first 
was " Williams's Canal," which had been begun before 
Grant went there. The river, several miles above 
Vicksburg, turned nearly north-east, and run in that 

1 Badeau's "Military History," page 154. 



iy6 LIFE OF GENERAL OFAYT. 

direction till it struck the Vicksburg Bluffs, and, seem- 
ingly turned by them, ran in almost a contrary direc- 
tion ; so that nearly opposite Vicksburg was a long, 
narrow peninsula, at the narrowest part of which it 
was only necessary to dig a canal about a mile long 
to make a new channel for the Mississippi, (provided 
it was willing to go there,) which would leave Vicks- 
burg high and dry. The work progressed very well 
till, all at once, the river objected to this proceeding, 
carried off the lower end or mouth of the canal, and 
came near flooding out the soldiers, who escaped in 
great haste. Grant said the canal had the small diffi- 
culty of being perpendicular at both ends to the river, 
which, of course, had no idea of going into it. So 
ended that scheme, which the rebels laughed at, and 
Grant cared but little about. 

The next fancy with projectors of internal navi- 
gation in the army was the Lake Providence route. 
The lake was seventy miles to the 'north of Vicksburg, 
and but one mile from the Mississippi ; that mile 
was cut through, and if we could have employed a 
year upon it, we should probably have got through 
Red River to a point near Port Hudson ; but the 
Bayous Bertie and Macon, which made the commu- 
nication, were filled with timber, and overflowed 
into swamps, and, in one word, no steamboats went 
through. But it was a fine field of enterprise for the 
ingenuity of engineers and speculators in rich lands. 

The next scheme was Yazoo Pass, which is far 
above Vicksburg, but which goes into Moon Lake, 
and from that into Coldwater River, and thence into 
the Tallahatchie River, which is one branch of the 



TAZOO PASS. 177 

Yazoo. This made an actual opening to the Yazoo 
above Vicksburg, and was navigable. Here was 
something which was tangible and possible. Grant 
did hope something from this route. The enemy 
were building gun-boats on the Tallahatchie, and it 
was very desirable to destroy them. He hoped to get 
the gun-boats through and down the Tallahatchie so 
as to cooperate with a land force in attacking Haines's 
Bluff. Accordingly, a division of troops, under Gen- 
eral Ross, embarked on twenty-two transports, pre- 
ceded by two gun-boats, and accompanied by a squad- 
ron of light craft. By working away at the outlet, 
and removing obstructions, they got into the Yazoo 
Inlet ; but when there, the difficulties encountered 
were almost incredible. The Pass was in most places 
not more than a hundred feet wide ; the trees met 
across it ; fallen timbers were in the way ; the channel 
turned and twisted in every direction. The enemy 
put all possible obstructions in front, and when the 
fleet passed, renewed them behind, so that the passage 
was a continual struggle of labor and skill, and not 
of fighting. Nevertheless, the expedition got through, 
and finally emerged into the Coldwater, and from 
the Coldwater into the Tallahatchie. In the mean 
while a great deal of time was lost, of which the 
rebels availed themselves. In the Yazoo, just below 
the Tallahatchie, was Greenwood, and there the rebels 
had built Fort Pemberton, well-placed, armed, and 
fortified. Ross, with his troops and gun-boats, got 
there, made an assault, and failed completely. So 
they retired, and the Yazoo expedition was ended. 
While this was going on Grant found another 



178 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

pass. This was by Steele's Bayou, which, after going 
through a dozen bayous and rivers — in all only about 
a hundred and fifty miles — led finally to a point 
above Haines's Bluff, and consequently flanked both 
that and Greenwood. This was altogether the most 
promising of these wandering enterprises. Grant 
saw this, and went there reconnoitering himself. 
The greatest difficulty was the continual obstruction 
of the trees. He returned, and hurried up Porter 
with his flotilla and Sherman with a division of 
troops. They got into the bayou, and through half a 
dozen streams, till they actually got within a short 
distance of the Yazoo. But the rebels found out 
the course and object of the expedition, and made 
such preparations that Grant thought it prudent to 
abandon the plan. 

Here we are, then, on the 23d of March, after 
having failed in several attempts at internal naviga- 
tion for war purposes, at Milliken's Bend, just about 
as well off as when we began, six weeks before. The 
nation was impatient, and people wondered what 
Grant was about, and why he did not attempt some 
decisive blow. But Grant was not impatient. That 
was not in his nature ; and now was the time for 
him to show that determined will and firmness of 
purpose which, with his calm temperament, made 
the chief elements of his character. The time was 
not lost, for who that knows the Mississippi expects 
that an army can move with facility on its banks in 
February and March ? The troops, however, were 
used to labor, marches, and endurance. Luckily they 
kept in good health in what is generally an unhealthy 



ARMY AND NAVY AT MILL /KEN'S BEND. 1 79 

region. So the grand army of Grant and the river 
fleet of Porter are now at Milliken's Bend ; while 
there the spring is just opening out, and the ground 
will be soon available for the march and encamp- 
ments of troops. Now we are ready, and soon we 
shall enter upon one of the most admirable and suc- 
cessful campaigns, not only of this war, but of any 
which modern history can exhibit. 



11 A P 



Tin: 



^^'llu 



in i ■<> It 



VICKSBURG 
CAMPAIGN, 

or tf\ 




COOPERATIVE EXPEDITION. l8l 



CHAPTER VIII. 

VICKSBURG. 

THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO GENERAL PLAN — GRANT MAKES A 
PLAN FOR HIMSELF — ACTS CONTRARY TO THE ADVICE OF 
HIS GENERALS, AND TAKES THE RESPONSIBILITY — ARMY 
MOVES TO NEW CARTHAGE — MIDNIGHT PASSAGE OF THE 
GUN-BOATS — ARMY CROSSES THE MISSISSIPPI — BATTLE OF 
PORT GIBSON — FALL OF GRAND GULF — BATTLES OF RAY- 
MOND, OF JACKSON, OF CHAMPION'S HILL, AND OF BIG 
BLACK — GRANT'S MILITARY GENIUS — REBEL ERRORS — 
VICKSBURG INVESTED — INEFFICIENCY OF JOHNSTON — SUR- 
RENDER OF VICKSBURG. 

THE Government had planned a cooperative ex- 
pedition, under Banks, to proceed up the Mis- 
sissippi, capture Port Hudson, and unite with Grant 
in an investment of Vicksburg. This plan had two 
essential defects : one, that it divided our forces with- 
out any probable advantage ; and the other, that Port 
Hudson was in the way of the cooperation, which 
place Banks might not find easier to take than Grant 
did Vicksburg. This turned out to be the fact. Banks 
had forty thousand, with all of Farragut's fleet. On 
the 14th of March Farragut attacked the rebel bat- 
teries at Port Hudson, and after a terrible bombard- 
ment, of several hours' duration, was compelled to 
retire. 1 How was Banks to cooperate ? 

1 " Rebellion Record," Vol. VI, page 55. 



1 82 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

The fact was, that Banks, at a subsequent period, 
attacked Port Hudson and failed ; that place fell only 
as a sequel to the capture of Vicksburg. The Gov- 
ernment, however, thought a good deal of this idea. 

On the 2d of April, Halleck wrote to Grant, using 
these words : " What is most desired (and your atten- 
tion is again called to this object) is, that your forces 
and those of General Banks should be brought into 
cooperation as early as possible. If he can not get 
up to cooperate with you on Vicksburg, can not you 
get troops down to help him at Port Hudson, or, at 
least, can you not destroy Grand Gulf before it be- 
comes too strong ?" 

If Grant had sent troops down to Banks, it would 
have been a clear loss of men and time.- The rebels 
had fortified Port Hudson, and it could only be taken 
by investment, or, as actually happened, by the fall 
of Vicksburg. In all this time Grant had in his view 
only the destruction of the enemy 's forces. After Shi- 
loh, this became his one leading military idea. He 
found the enemy re-rallying after defeat, even when 
the strong strategic lines were broken, and, therefore, 
concluded that they would continue to rally, in such 
an extensive country, unless their armies were de- 
stroyed ; and this was the rebel idea also. Davis said 
they could defend themselves twenty years in Vir- 
ginia. Grant's idea was correct, but he seems to me 
never to have fully understood the necessity of a com- 
prehensive strategy to the execution and success of 
his own idea. Nor is he to be blamed for this ; for 
he was not Commander-in-Chief, and, strange as it 
may seem, there is no evidence whatever that the 



GRANT'S PLAN TO CAPTURE VICKSBURG. I S3 

Government had, up to this time, any general plan of 
conducting the war. 1 The attacks in the East and in 
the West were isolated. Different commanders had 
formed different plans ; and Mr. Lincoln himself at 
one time took command. Then McClellan — then 
Halleck — and, long subsequent to this time, Grant. 
McClellan seems to have cast no eye beyond the 
mountains at all. Halleck, in command of the West- 
ern Department, had a plan ; but, at Washington, 
seems to have had no general scheme of strategic op- 
erations. But we must return to Grant. Whatever 
ideas were revolving in his mind, it is plain he can 
only be held responsible for his department. The 
old problem, how to get behind or below Vicksburg, 
is still before him, and now it is to be solved. 

On the 4th of April we have the germ, the initial, 
of the true idea of taking Vicksburg. On that day 
Grant wrote to Halleck: "The discipline and health 
of this army is now good, and I am satisfied the 
greatest confidence of success prevails." He thus 
described to Halleck the plan he now proposed : 

"There is a system of bayous running from Mil- 
liken's Bend, also from near the river at this point, 
[Young's Point], that are navigable for large and 
small steamers, passing around by Richmond to New 
Carthage. There is also a good wagon-road from 
Milliken's Bend to New Carthage. The dredges are 
now engaged cutting a canal from here into these 

1 I have tried to find any general plan or system of strategy adopted 
by the Government in the first three years of the war, and am satisfied 
none existed. Particular generals claimed merit for particular plans, 
and controversies have arisen on this subject ; but a general system of 
the war for the whole vast field of strategy did not exist. 



184 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT, 

bayous. I am having all the empty coal-boats and 
other barges prepared for carrying troops and artil- 
lery, and have written to Colonel Allen for some 
more, and also for six tugs to tow them. With them 
it would be easy to carry supplies to New Carthage, 
and any point south of that. My expectation is for 
some of the naval fleet to run the batteries of Vicks- 
burg, while the army moves through by this new 
route. Once there, I will move to Warrenton or 
Grand Gulf, probably the latter. From either of 
these points, there are good roads to Jackson and 
the Black River bridge, without crossing Black River. 
I will keep my army together, and see to it that I am 
not cut off from my supplies, or beat in any other way 
than a fair fight." ' 

There was one objection to this plan, which, how- 
ever, I think more apparent than real. This was, that 
Grant would cut himself off from his supplies, and 
seemingly put himself where he would put the enemy. 
Colonel Badeau states, in his "Military History," that 
Sherman, McPherson, Logan, Wilson, and others, op- 
posed this plan, and considered it a fatal error. Sher- 
man said that the only way to take Vicksburg was 
from the north. " Then," said Grant, " that requires 
me to go back to Memphis." " Exactly so," said Sher- 
man, " that is what I mean." Grant thought a retro- 
grade movement would be disastrous to the country, 
which would not endure another reverse ; and he de- 
clared fie would take no step backward. Sherman sent, 

1 This letter of Grant's is taken from Badeau's " Military History ;" 
but all these military letters, reports, and telegrams are in course of pub- 
lication by the Government, but will not be out in time for this work. 



GRANT'S DETERMINATION. 1 85 

through Colonel Rawlins, a written communication, 
urging him to take the line of the Yallabusha. Grant 
read it in silence, 1 but made no change of plan. On- 
ward ! was Grant's command. It has been said that 
Grant's successes were accidents /' Can any body in- 
form me where the accident was here ? Grant, with 
determined will — if you please, obstinacy — went on, in 
spite of the opinions and judgment of his military 
advisers. If he failed, it was ruinous ; if he suc- 
ceeded, no one can share the credit with him. But 
the fact is, Grant was right in every view of the case. 
It would not do to retrograde. Nor was there any 
great danger in the movement as to his supplies. 
He had learned (what Sherman afterward learned in 
Georgia) that the central portions of the South were 
full of food, and that, if necessary, he could support 
his army there. Then a rapid march would enable 
him to join Banks, if such a movement were desirable; 
and, finally, what was to prevent supplying his army 
by the route he came? In all aspects of the case he 
was right. But let those who talk of accidents re- 
member that he made his grand move round Vicks- 
burg against the opinion of such men as Sherman 
and McPherson. 

On the 29th of March the grand march began. 
McClernand's Division took Richmond, a point below, 
and made a march of twenty-seven miles to New 

1 Badeau's " Military History." 

2 In an article in the " Southern Home Journal," recently, the no- 
torious Pollard, who is no military authority, and speaks only rebel 
opinions, says that Grant has risen only by "accident." It is a most 
extraordinary series of accidents, which always run one way, and that, 
too, in opposition to the opinions and judgments of able men! 

16 



1 86 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Carthage. But the last point was not occupied till 
the 6th of April. The country was in many places 
deluged, the levees were broken in places, and the 
road but a few inches out of water. Grant wrote : 
" The embarrassment I have had to contend against 
on account of extreme high water can not be appre- 
ciated by any one not present to witness it." 

Bridges had to be built, round-about roads taken, 
and the distance marched by the army was doubled. 
Indeed, the labor, exposure, and difficulties of this 
route were almost incredible. At length McCler- 
nand's Division is safe at New Carthage. But of 
what use is this advance without transportation ? 
The Mississippi is a mighty river ; to cross in small 
bodies would be dangerous, for the enemy is strong. 
Porter's ' fleet and transports are above Vicksburg. 
What is to be done ? Grant had solved the problem 
in his own mind, and told Halleck, " My expecta- 
tion is, that some of the fleet will run the batteries of 
Vicksburg." Was that possible ? Now we are to 
answer that question. 

The night of the 16th of April was fixed upon 
for the enterprise. Seven gun-boats and four trans- 
ports formed the squadron, under Commodore Porter, 
which was to pass under the fire of the tremendous 
batteries, and, if possible, reach New Carthage with 
supplies and means of transportation. Such enter- 
prises had failed heretofore, and, to the minds of even 
sailors, the idea was surrounded with horrors. A call 
for volunteers was made, and what the fleet could not 
supply the army did, for in the army were pilots, engi- 
neers, and craftsmen of all descriptions. The fleet is 



MIDNIGHT PASSAGE OF THE GUN- BOATS. 1 87 

manned ; the transports are piled up with cotton on 
the sides ; the gun-boats on the Vicksburg side are 
lined with chains, timbers, or whatever will resist the 
shock of balls. The gun-boats take the side of the 
batteries, and the transports hug the other shore. 
And now it is night, a dark night, for no moon shines 
above. The sun had set beautifully, and the stars 
came out ; but the night deepened, and the boats are 
only seen as dark masses in the water. 1 All were anx- 
ious. Grant stood on the shore ; Sherman was there. 
Officers and men were on board boats, gazing in 
almost breathless silence. 2 At eleven o'clock the 
Benton, with the gallant Porter on board, noiselessly 
goes into the dark waters. Another and another fol- 
low, and for a little time all is quiet ; the enemy 
were unsuspicious. The boats pass on, and, stealing 
slowly along, are scarcely distinguishable from the 
foliage on the opposite bank. The crowd on our 
side of the river had been full of talk and noise; 
but now all is hushed. The boats are passing into 
the darkness of the opposite shore. " Will they get 
by?" and quick beats every heart. 

" Three-quarters of an hour passed. People heard 
nothing save their own suppressed breathings ; saw 
nothing save a long, low bank of darkness, which, 
like a black fog, walled the view below, and joined 
the sky and river in the direction of Vicksburg. 
And all watched this gathering of darkness, for in it 
were thunders, and lightnings, and volcanoes, which 
at any instant might light up the night with fierce 

1 Letter to " New York Tribune," dated April 17, 1863. 

2 Badeau's " Military History." 



1 88 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

irruptions. So long a time passed without any thing 
occurring that people began to believe the enemy 
had determined, for some malevolent purpose, to 
allow the fleet to pass below without obstruction." 

Ah, no! The rebels knew too well what was 
meant, and would have given half their hopes to 
have sunk that fleet. It is sixteen minutes past 
eleven, and the alarmed sentinel on Vicksburg bluff 
has seen the dark ships. In a moment the scene 
lights up, the sullen thunder of the first gun is heard, 
and crash after crash roars through the midnight air — 
and Porter joins in with a rapid and tremendous fire 
from the gun-boats. It is now past twelve, and they 
are just passing the little city, and the shot and shell 
are thick in the air. 1 It is dark, but the rebels set 
fire to houses and beacons, and the streets of Vicks- 
burg can be seen. The Henry Clay (transport) is 
on fire, and soon sends up its lurid blaze. The boats 
are all struck, and one of the transports, disabled, 
floats down to Carthage. 2 

" The currents were strong, and dangerous eddies 
delayed the vessels ; the lights glaring in every direc- 
tion, and the smoke enveloping the squadron, con- 
fused the pilots ; the bulwarks, even of the iron-clads, 
were crushed ; and the uproar of artillery, reechoing 
from the hills, was incessant. One of the heaviest 
guns of the enemy was seen to burst in the streets 
of Vicksburg, and the whole population was awake 
and out of doors, watching the scene on which its 
destinies depended. For two hours and forty min- 

1 Grant was in the midst of the fire, anxiously looking on. 

2 The Forest Queen was disabled, and towed down by a gun-boat. 



AN ANXIOUS REBEL. 1 89 

utes the fleets were under fire. But, at last, the 
transports and the gun-boats had all got out of range, 
the blazing beacons on the hills and on the stream 
burned low, the array of batteries belching flame and 
noise from the embattled bluffs had ceased their ut- 
terance, and silence and darkness resumed their sway- 
over the beleaguered city, and the swamps and rivers 
that encircle Vicksburg." l 

Thus ended one of the most remarkable scenes 
which occurred in that terrible war, and one of the 
most interesting which has occurred in any war. 

One scene told by Badeau is worth repeating, to 
show the effect on the rebel mind, and the sad inci- 
dents of such a war. One of the finest plantations 
of the South was the head-quarters, at that time, of 
General McClernand. It was clad in the beauty of 
the sunny South, surrounded with lawns, and planted 
with the fruits and flowers of a balmy clime. The 
fig-tree, the magnolia, and the oleander grew and 
bloomed there. But its unfortunate owner was pos- 
sessed with the demon of rebellion. The " Yankee " 
was to him the spirit of evil. Perhaps, if he had 
known a Yankee better, or even known his country 
better, he would not have so hated him. Perhaps 
ignorance was his misfortune, as it is of countless 
multitudes who are the hapless victims of an ill-lot, 
not perhaps of altogether their own making. But 
here is a Yankee on his plantation, and here are the 
Yankees coming on in their midnight passage of 
Vicksburg. He is as anxious as Grant. He do n't 
believe they will get by ; and the first thing that does 

1 Badeau's " Military History," page 192. 



icp LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

come is the burning fragment of the Henry Clay; 
and then the barge cut loose comes floating down ; 
certainly this does not look like Yankee success, 
and the rebel planter is rejoicing. He shouts, "The 
Yankees are defeated ;" and he comes up and says : 
" Where are your gun-boats now ? Vicksburg has 
put an end to them all ;" and the National officers 
feared lest his elation might prove well-founded. By 
daylight, however, the wrecks had all passed by ; 
and, after awhile, a gun -boat appeared below the 
bend ; and then a transport ; then, one after an- 
other, the whole fleet of iron-clads and army steam- 
ers hove in sight from their perilous passage. The 
" Yankees " now had their turn of rejoicing, and 
thanked the rebel for teaching them the word. 
" Where are your gun-boats now ?" they said. " Did 
Vicksburg put an end to them all ?" But the old 
man was too much exasperated at the National suc- 
cess to endure the taunts he had himself provoked, 
and rushed away in a rage. The next day he set fire 
to his own house, rather than allow it to shelter his 
enemies. This may be Spartan, but it was not civil- 
ized, and seems sad to look upon in the light of our 
American institutions. 

On the 17th Grant telegraphed Halleck that seven 
gun-boats and three transports passed the Vicksburg 
batteries last night, and, " if it is possible, I will oc- 
cupy Grand Gulf within four days." He did not get 
there in four days, but still in time for the great 
object. 

On the 2d of April six boats and a number of 
barges ran the Vicksburg batteries, and Grant said 



DEVELOPMENT OF GRANT'S IDEA. 191 

they were all more or less injured, 1 and the Tigress 
sunk, but concluded, " I look upon this as a great 
success." And well he might, for he had now got 
gun-boats and transports enough below Vicksburg to 
transport and manage his army ; and this was the first 
thing to be done in the solution of the great problem. 
Grant had said he would take Grand Gulf, but it was 
not to be quite in the way he imagined. Two corps 
(McClernand's and McPherson's) had arrived when 
he thought to attack Grand Gulf in front. In fact, 
the navy did attack the forts, and, for several hours, 
rained upon them shot and shell, disabling part of the 
batteries, but in vain, for they could not reach the 
top batteries, and found the forts were not to be 
taken in that way. 

What next ? Now comes the development of the 
idea, which Grant held tenaciously to the end of the 
war, to flank the enemy till lie brought him to battle, 
and then destroy him. Grand Gulf was not taken by 
the navy, and could not be by landing ; so he looks 
below, and finds he can land below Grand Gulf and 
flank it. In one word, he now determines to turn 
the enemy's left, which would result in cutting the 
Jackson Railroad and reducing the rebel commander 
to the alternative of either shutting himself up in 
Vicksburg, or of abandoning it. No finer tactical 
movement on a large field was ever made. It was 
the most admirable of Grant's operations, and the most 
admirable made during the war; yet let us recollect 
that this whole movement was made in opposition to 
the opinions of his Generals, and looked upon at 

1 Grant's telegram to Halleck. 



IQ2 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Washington with fear and anxiety. It was Grant's 
own plan, and no result either of accident or advice. 
"Once at Grand Gulf," says Grant, "I do not feel a 
doubt of success in the entire driving out of the 
enemy from the banks of the river." 

In the mean time Grant superintended every 
thing personally. His orders were given in detail, 
so that the commanders could make no mistakes 
unless they disobeyed orders. In the commissary, 
the quarter-master's, the adjutant's departments, every- 
where, Grant was the chief administrator. We see 
here exactly what gave Grant success ; not merely 
sagacity in military enterprise, but that cool, per- 
severing, energetic, administrative ability, which en- 
abled him to keep every thing in its place, and direct 
every thing to its proper end. I copy from Badeau's 
"Military History" the following paragraphs, which 
fully illustrate this point in his character. Badeau 
was his secretary, and can testify to what no one else 
can. On the 30th of April he issued a variety of or- 
ders, of which the following are part : 

"The same day the chief commissary of the Thir- 
teenth Corps received the following directions: 'You 
will issue to the troops of this command, without pro- 
vision returns, for their subsistence during the next 
five days, three rations ;' and corps commanders were 
instructed to direct their 'chief quarter-masters to 
seize, for the use of the army in the field during the 
ensuing campaign, such land transportation as may 
be necessary, belonging to the inhabitants of the 
country through which they may pass.' 

"These orders and dispatches were all written in 



THE BATTLE OF PORT GIBSON. 1 93 

Grant's own hand, and nearly all signed with his own 
name. Like most of the important papers emanating 
from his head-quarters during the war, they were his 
own composition, struck out at the moment they 
were needed by the emergency of the moment, and 
sent off without emendation or change. Dates and 
names, and matter of that description, in the larger 
reports were, of course, often supplied by others, but 
the gist and the text were Grant's own. None of his 
staff-officers ever attempted to imitate his style." 

On the 30th of April, from early day, gun-boats, 
transports, barges, every thing which could be used 
for transportation, were busy ferrying McClernand's 
Corps across to Bruinsburg, below Bayou Pierre. 
The Seventeenth (McPherson's) followed as fast as 
possible. Four miles below Port Gibson they were 
met by the rebel General Bowen. His force was 
posted where two roads meet, upon ridges, with a 
brokeji country on each side. The action was a 
serious one, and Grant came on to the ground aware 
of all its importance. The result was not doubtful. 
With heavy forces continually coming up, Grant 
drove the enemy from their position with heavy loss, 1 
and they fled over the Bayou Pierre, destroying the 
bridges. Next day McPherson built a new bridge, 
and the pursuit of the enemy was continued. Thus 
ended the battle of Port Gibson, the first step in 
Grant's turning the enemy and driving him in. 

These movements compelled the evacuation of 
Grand Gulf, which, on the 3d of May, was taken 
possession of by Admiral Porter ; and on the evening 

1 The rebels lost 150 killed, 300 wounded, and 600 prisoners. 

17 



194 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

of the same day Grant rode in with his staff. Porter 
and Grant were both surprised at the strength and 
defenses of that place, Porter describing 1 them as the 
strongest on the Mississippi, except Vicksburg. For- 
tunately the rapid advance of Grant reduced the 
enemy to the necessity of abandoning Grand Gulf 
immediately, and a large amount of heavy artillery 
and ammunition were taken there. Fortunately, also, 
no time was left to complete the new defenses. One 
grand point was now gained. The enemy abandoned 
all the country from Bayou Pierre to Big Black, and 
Pemberton, who commanded that particular district, 
dispatched to Johnston that Grant was turning their 
defenses below, and intended to inclose them in 
Vicksburg. The enemy, as well as our Government, 
was surprised. Grand Gulf was now made the base 
of supplies, and the army lay at Hawkinson's Ferry 
of the Big Black, waiting for wagons, supplies, and 
Sherman. 

At this place let us look at two or three inci- 
dental })< tints in the drama. What was the condition 
of the army at this time? for it has been much ex- 
posed, and I recollect that every body thought there 
would be much sickness. Grant says, writing to 
Halleck, on the 3d of May: 

" My force, however, was too heavy for his, and 
composed of well-disciplined and hardy men, who 
know no defeat, and are not willing to learn what 
it is. This army is in the finest health and spirits. 
Since leaving Milliken's Bend they have marched as 
much by night as by day, through mud and rain, 
1 Porter's Report, May 3, 1S63. 



GRIERSON'S RAID. 1 95 

without tents or much other baggage, and on irregu- 
lar rations, without a complaint, and with less strag- 
gling than I have ever before witnessed. Where all 
have done so well, it would be out of place to make 
invidious distinction." 

This is certainly extraordinary, and equally fortu- 
nate. In fact, Grant was now coming into the active 
campaign, with a large army in admirable order. 

Another incident to be noticed, and one of much 
importance at this time, is Grierson's raid. This ex- 
pedition originated with Grant himself. His idea 
was to dispatch Grierson, with about five hundred 
men, and cut the railroad beyond Jackson. He said 
to Hurlbut, it would be hazardous, but would pay 
well if successful. This was two months before his 
present movement. Delays and obstacles (as it 
turned out luckily for us) prevented the start of this 
expedition till the middle of April. On the 17th of 
April, Grierson set out from La Grange, with some 
fifteen hundred cavalry, and, after seventeen days of 
most extraordinary performance in riding and hard 
work, arrived at Baton Rouge, on the Lower Missis- 
sippi. He broke up railroads, destroyed stores, and 
paroled prisoners, making an almost marvelous raid 
through an enemy's country, fresh in the memory of 
the people and to be memorable in history. It 
accomplished all that was expected, and was very 
opportune. I mention it here, because it was one 
element — although a minor one — in the general plan 
which Grant had formed for himself. 

Grant sat up the night of the 3d, writing dis- 
patches, letters, orders. First, in the order of busi- 



196 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

ness, is the supply question ; and so he writes off to 
Sullivan above, and to Sherman, detailed directions 
as to the quantity of supplies, and how they must 
be furnished. 

Having gained the grand object of four months' 
operations — dry ground on the enemy's interior line — 
the army felt encouraged, and Grant inspirited. But 
there was still something to be determined as to im- 
mediate movements. There were really but two lines 
of advance, and they were quite obvious. Grant 
might move directly on Vicksburg, and he might 
also move on Jackson, cut the railroads, and effectu- 
ally prevent the enemy's reenforcing Pemberton. He 
took the last course. But it turned out afterward 
that Halleck had issued a positive order for Grant to 
join Banks, if possible, between Vicksburg and Port 
Hudson, and that Lincoln himself feared Grant had 
made a fatal mistake in turning north from Port 
Gibson.' Such was the strange fatuity — the night- 
mare of fear — which prevailed at Washington during 
the greater part of the war. Luckily Grant did not 
know any thing of all this, and boldly pushed on to 
success and victory. Finding Pemberton very strong 
in front and hearing, from every quarter, that John- 
ston was advancing troops from the East, so that it 
was quite obvious, if the forces of Pemberton and 
Johnston were united, they would be greater than his 
own, 2 and there might be a failure of his plan, he 

1 I jncoln subsequently wrote a letter to Grant acknowledging his error. 

2 The field reports of Pemberton proved that he had in all 52,000 
men. Grant's three corps, then available, did not amount to more than 
that number. 



SUBSISTING ON THE ENEMT. 1 97 

came at once to the conclusion that he would antici- 
pate this and advance on Jackson between the forces 
of the enemy. This required an abandonment of 
Grand Gulf, and consequently his base of supplies 
from Hard Times and Milliken's Bend. Sherman, 
who was on the other side of the river hurrying up 
supplies, was alarmed, and wrote to Grant that if 
they were to come by that single road, the road 
would soon be choked. Grant immediately replied 
that he did not expect to rely on that road, but 
merely wanted to get up coffee, hard bread, and 
salt ; for all the rest he would rely on the country, 
in which there was plenty of beef and corn. In 
fact, Grant had then more rations on hand than 
he had when he left New Carthage. 1 He had cut 
away from his base at Milliken's Bend, and he was 
now about to cut away from his new base at Grand 
Gulf. The Government at Washington was aston- 
ished, and the rebel Government at Richmond more 
so. But on the night of the 3d of May, Grant ar- 
rived at Hawkinson's Ferry, with his total amount of 
baggage — a tooth-brush! He had lodged and eaten 
where he could, and his staff had done the same. 
And now the army cuts loose from Grand Gulf to 
practice that great military principle— forage on the 
enemy. He had learned, as I said, in his march to 
Oxford (Mississippi) and return, after his communi- 
cations were cut off, that the enemy had abundance 
of food. He wanted coffee and salt ; for the rest he 
could get along well enough without a base. 

And now he has formed the plan of a short but 

1 Badeau's " Military History." 



198 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

decisive campaign, which, if it did not capture Vicks- 
burg, must inevitably result in shutting up Pemberton. 
Two things were absolutely necessary, if possible : to 
deceive Pemberton with the idea that Grant was ad- 
vancing immediately on Vicksburg, and then to cut 
off his communications, so that he could receive 
neither provisions nor reinforcements. For the first, 
he advanced bodies of troops to within six or seven 
miles of Vicksburg. The Big Black River, in its 
course to the east of that place, runs nearly parallel 
with the Mississippi, as far as Hawkinson's Ferry, 
and then soon enters the Mississippi, at Grand Gulf, 
where that river makes a bend to the east. The rail- 
road from Vicksburg to Jackson crosses the Big 
Black about fifteen miles from the town ; Edwards's 
Station is eighteen, Clinton thirty-five, and Jackson 
forty miles ; but on the roads traveled by the troops 
the distances were longer. Leaving Hawkinson's 
Ferry, there were two roads leading to the north, 
east of Black River. One was near the river, leading 
up to Edwards's Station, and the other considerably 
to the east, through the villages of Utica and Ray- 
mond, to Clinton, on the railroad, ten miles from 
Jackson. Grant put McClernand's Corps on the first, 
hugging Black River, and threatening to cross its 
bridges in an advance on Vicksburg. This perplexed 
Pemberton, and masked, in a good degree, the move- 
ment of McPherson's Corps, which took the Raymond 
road, with the design of taking Jackson and cutting 
the communications. The plan worked with entire 
success. In the mean time Sherman had crossed the 
Mississippi with his corps, and advanced up to support 



GRANT AT CLINTON. 1 99 

either McClernand or McPherson. On the 12th 
of May Grant was with Sherman, encamped on the 
road to Edwards's Station, seven miles west of Ray- 
mond, and on the day previous (nth) Grant wrote 
Halleck, " I shall communicate with Grand Gulf no 
more." On that same day Halleck had telegraphed 
to Grant that he must unite with Banks. In the 
meanwhile McPherson moved on, and, on the 12th, 
was encountered by the enemy near Raymond. The 
rebels, under the command of General Gregg, made 
a brisk and determined battle, but in vain. They 
were defeated ; and on the 14th Grant telegraphs 
Halleck from Raymond, " McPherson took this place 
on the 1 2th, after a brisk fight of more than two 
hours." 1 McPherson is now at Clinton, Sherman on 
the direct Jackson road, and McClernand bringing 
up the rear. Now we can see the most important 
part of these grand tactics have succeeded. Grant is 
at Clinton, on tJie Jacksoii road. On the 13th Mc- 
Pherson reached Clinton, and began tearing up all the 
railroad tracks, burning bridges, and destroying tele- 
graphs. Finding that Johnston, who had now taken 
command at Jackson, was trying to hold on while he 
could get reinforcements, Grant at once ordered up 
McClernand and Sherman's Corps to join McPherson 
in his attack on Jackson. At the same time John- 
ston directed Pemberton to bring up his forces to 
attack Grant in the rear ; 2 but it was too late — Pem- 

1 The loss on our side was 69 killed, 341 wounded, 30 missing; on 
the enemy's, 100 killed, 305 wounded, and 45 prisoners. 

2 "I have lately arrived, and learn that Major-General Sherman is 
between us with four divisions at Clinton. It is important to reestab- 
lish communications, that you may be reenforced. If practicable, come 



200 FIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

berton had been deceived, and his forces were at 
Edwards's Station on the 14th. 

On the 14th of May Jackson was, in fact, well 
fortified with long lines of intrenchments ; but, un- 
like Vicksburg, it had no great natural defenses, and 
required more troops than Johnston had. He had 
now the troops driven back from Raymond, the gar- 
rison of Jackson, and some reinforcements from 
Georgia and South Carolina, altogether a consider- 
able body, but unequal to the veteran corps of Grant. 
Johnston was attacked in his defenses by the Corps 
of McPherson and Sherman, and defeated. The 
result is told by Grant, writing from Jackson : " This 
place fell into our hands yesterday, after a fight of 
about three hours. Joe Johnston was in command. 
The enemy retreated north, evidently with the design 
of joining the Vicksburg force. I am concentrating 
my force at Bolton, to cut them off, if possible." l 

The night before, Johnston had passed a gay even- 
ing in the house now occupied by Grant. It is quite 
common, however, for men to appear most gay, when 
in fact most sad. 

Johnston could not have expected to defeat Grant, 
but he evidently did expect to save Pemberton's army. 
But that was a vanity. We have gained another great 
step in this decisive campaign. Jackson, as a rail- 
road center, and the roads leading to it, arc destroyed? 

up in his rear at once. To beat such a detachment would be of im- 
mense value. All the troops you can quickly assemble should be 
brought Time is all-important." — Johnston to Pemberton, May \yh. 

1 Grant's telegram from Jackson, May 15th. 

2 Sherman's Corps took charge of Jackson, and Badeau says : "He 
set about his work in the morning, and utterly destroyed the railroads 



GRANT GETS JOHNSTON'S DISPATCHES. 201 

It is no longer possible to unite the rebel forces. It 
is no longer possible to save Vicksburg; but it may 
be possible to save Pemberton's army. What shall 
be done with it? Johnston went to Canton, and 
thence dispatched two brigades forty miles from 
Jackson ; and this he did, as he said in his report, to 
prevent the enemy in Jackson from drawing provisions 
from the East. Johnston was as much deceived as 
Pemberton ; for Grant had no idea of remaining in 
Jackson. He did not dream that Grant had cut his 
own communications, and got plenty of provisions 
where he was. He told Pemberton that when the 
reenforcements were up, the rest of the army must be 
united with him. But that was just what Grant did 
not mean to have done. There was, however, danger 
of it ; but Grant had got possession of Johnston's 
dispatches. He instantly converged all his forces on 
Bolton's Station, which was twenty-eight miles from 
Vicksburg, and seventeen from Jackson. This was, in 
fact, placing himself where he separated and cut off 
from each other all the enemy's forces ; for Pemberton, 
utterly deceived, as well as Johnston, disobeyed the 
order of Johnston to move toward Clinton, and 

in every direction, north, east, south, and west, for a distance, in all, of 
twenty miles. All the bridges, factories, and arsenals were burned, and 
whatever could be of use to the rebels, destroyed. The importance of 
Jackson, as a railroad center and a depot of stores and military fac- 
tories, was annihilated, and the principal object of its capture attained. 
A hotel and a church in Jackson were burned without orders, and there 
was some pillaging by the soldiers, which their officers sought in every 
way to restrain." This was not all. Pictures were shot through, 
pianos broken up, and a great deal of private property destroyed. 
This was not the work of the officers, but of men who had been in- 
sulted and injured by rebels, and were determined to make rebels fed 
the consequences of their own conduct. 



202 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

actually went to Dillon's, south of Edwards's Station, 
in order, as he said, to cut Grant's communications ! 
Both of them were evidently deluded with the idea 
that Grant depended on his communications. So, if 
we look on the map, we shall find Johnston running 
to Canton, (north,) Gregg, east, and Pemberton at 
Dillon's, (south,) and Grant concentrated at Bolton's 
Station, central between them. No general could 
desire a better position than this. Pemberton, how- 
ever, soon finds out his mistake, and at once moves 
up to Champion's Hill, west of Bolton, determined to 
make a stand. Grant is delayed somewhat by the 
necessity of renewing bridges, which had been de- 
stroyed, over Baker's Creek. But, during the 16th, 
the work was done, and the enemy now in complete 
force, (Pemberton, Bowen, and Loring all being 
there,) were brought to battle, without being entirely 
conscious of their situation, or with whom they had 
to deal. 1 This delusion of Pemberton and Johnston 
was one of the great advantages we had ; but it must 
be remembered that this delusion was a direct con- 
sequence of Grant's movements. It was the excel- 

1 "When General Johnston, on the 13th of May, informed me that 
Sherman was at Clinton, and ordered me to attack him in the rear, 
neither he nor I knew that Sherman was in the act of advancing on 
Jackson, which place he entered at twelve o'clock on the next day; that 
a corps of the enemy was at Raymond, following Sherman's march upon 
Jackson; and that another corps was near Dillon's, probably moving in 
the same direction; and, consequently, that the orders to attack Sher- 
man could not be executed. Nor was I myself aware till, several hours 
after I had received and promised to obey the order, that it could not 
be obeyed without the destruction of my army; but on my arrival at 
Edwards's depot, two hours after I received the order, I found a large 
force of the enemy at Dillon's, on my right flank, and ready to attack 
me in the flank or rear if I moved on Clinton." — rcmbertoiis add. ReJ>. 



BATTLE OF CHAMPION'S HILL. 203 

lence of Grant's plan that it must deceive the enemy, 
and that it must almost inevitably be successful. 

McPherson was in front, and outranked by Mc- 
Clernand, under whom he was unwilling to risk the 
battle. The position of the enemy is thus described 
by Badeau : 

"At six and a half o'clock McPherson dispatched 
to Grant : ' I think it advisable for you to come for- 
ward to the front as soon as you can.' Grant started 
at once, at forty minutes past seven, for the advance. 
On the way he found Hovey's Division at a halt, and 
the road blocked up with wagon trains. Grant soon 
cleared a way for the troops, and the battle was evi- 
dently coming on. 

" The enemy was strongly posted, with his left on 
a high, wooded ridge, called Champion's Hill, over 
which the road to Edwards's Station runs, making a 
sharp turn to the south, as it strikes the hills. This 
ridge rises sixty or seventy feet above the surround- 
ing country, and is the highest land for many miles 
around ; the topmost point is bald, and gave the 
rebels a commanding position for their artillery ; but 
the remainder of the crest, as well as a precipitous 
hill-side to the east of the road, is covered by a dense 
forest and undergrowth, and scarred with deep ra- 
vines, through whose entanglements troops could pass 
only with extreme difficulty. To the north the tim- 
ber extends a short distance down the hill, and opens 
into cultivated fields. The enemy's line extended 
over ridge and hills for two or three miles. McPher- 
son commenced the attack, with Hovey's Division, 
and two brigades of Logan, and steadily drove the 



204 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

enemy back till our troops approached the hill. The 
road over the hill was a natural fortification. It was 
cut through the crest of the ridge at the steepest 
part, the bank on the upper side commanding all be- 
low ; so that even when the National troops had ap- 
parently gained the road, the rebels stood behind this 
novel breastwork, covered from every fire, and mas- 
ters still of the whole declivity. These were the 
only fortifications at Champion's Hill, but they an- 
swered the rebels well." 

The enemy, seeing that they lost ground, sent 
reinforcements rapidly. Grant, who, standing on a 
spur of a hill, saw this, sent forward Crocker's Divi- 
sion. But the tide of battle ebbed and flowed. Ho- 
vey's exhausted troops were at one time compelled to 
fall back. In fact, the National line was in danger. 
Grant was fighting the battle with one-third of his 
army, for he had tried to hurry up McClernand in 
vain. On the right, however, Stevenson's Brigade, 
of Logan's Division, made a successful charge, fairly 
cutting off the enemy's retreat to Edwards's Station; 
and the enemy, seeing this, abandoned his position in 
front, and Hovey and Crocker pressed on, and the 
rebel line rolled back. The rebels fled ; Logan's 
charge precipitated the rout, and the battle of Cham- 
pion's Hill was won at four o'clock in the afternoon. 
The battle had been fought with McPherson's Corps 
and Hovey's Division of the Thirteenth Corps. In 
all, Grant had in the actual battle about fifteen thou- 
sand men, and of these he lost heavily. It was the 
bloodiest field since Grant commenced operations 



BATTLES ROUND VICKSBURG ENDED. 205 

around Vicksburg. 1 We took about three thousand 
prisoners, and about thirty pieces of artillery. The 
battle was very disastrous to the rebels in every way. 
Loring's Division of the rebel force, which held their 
right, got separated by the rapidity of Grant's ad- 
vance, fled to the southward, and, after making a wide 
circuit, and losing many men, at length succeeded in 
joining Johnston at Jackson, with about five thousand 
troops. Thus this division was cut off from the 
defense of Vicksburg. At this time Johnston was 
resting, in utter ignorance of what either Grant or 
Pemberton was doing. On the same day, also, Sher- 
man left Jackson, marched twenty miles, reached 
Bolton, and was informed of the battle of Champion's 
Hill. He was immediately ordered north to Bridge- 
port, on the Big- Black, obviously with the view of 
preventing any attempt of Pemberton to escape. 

In the mean time, McClernand's Corps is moved 
forward, and, arriving at the Big Black Bridge, finds 
the enemy in a very strong position. The river 
makes a bend to the east. On the west side were 
high bluffs ; on the east, a wide bottom, surrounded 
by a deep bayou, making a natural ditch. The bridge 
was fortified in front by a tete-de-pont, (bridge-head,) 
with twenty pieces of artillery, and four thousand men. 
The struggle was not long, however ; a successful 
charge drove the enemy from his intrenchments, in 
confusion and dismay, over the river. All the battles 
round Vicksburg are now ended — Grand Gulf, Ray- 
mond, Jackson, Champion's Hill, Big Black — all are 

1 Our army lost 426 men killed, 1,842 wounded, and 189 missing. 
Hovey alone lost 1,200, being nearly one-third of his command. 



206 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

over. The (.beams of the enemy are vanished. On 
the night of the 17th of May his broken, dispirited 
troops enter the little city of Vicksburg. The inhab- 
itants are dismayed and astonished. The Avenger of 
crimes seems, to their excited imaginations, to be 
rushing on for their destruction! On the 22d of May 
Grant drew his own lines round Vicksburg, with a 
grasp which none could escape. Some time was to 
elapse, and many a man sank in the darkness of death, 
but the end was certain. The strategy with which 
Grant moved from Milliken's Bend to Carthage, 
from Carthage to Bruinsburg, thence to Grand 
Gulf, and thence (cutting himself clear of his base) to 
Jackson, Champion's Hill, and Vicksburg, is as brill- 
iant as any to be found in military annals. 

Some writers say, "Grant had no genius? They 
look upon him as a sort of hard-headed, pounding 
machine, who, with a strong will and a hard ham- 
mer, hammered the enemy to death. The rebel his- 
torian says he is an accident! Our own writers, 
civilians y (for no military man says such things,) say 
Grant has not genius. Why, what would they have? 
What is genius? Especially, what is military genius? 
Do they know? The best definition of genius is, 
strong natural faculties, fnlly put forth on some one 
subject. Had not Grant strong natural faculties, and 
did he not put them forth to the utmost degree? 
The campaign around Vicksburg was his ozvn, em- 
phatically his own, in opposition to the views of the 
Government, and the advice of his generals. Can 
the captious critics of Grant's career show me any 
plan in the movements of the greatest generals more 



JOHNSTON OUTGENERALED BY GRANT. 207 

original, better performed, or more far-sighted, than 
the campaign of Vicksburg ? Let us now turn to 
the rebel mind. What did the rebel generals think ? 
What did they intend ? 

It is quite evident that Johnston, who seems to 
be much admired as an officer, by both rebel and 
Union writers, was completely outgeneraled by Grant, 
and defeated in every purpose. We have the cor- 
respondence and reports of Johnston and Pemberton, 
which show that both were bewildered, and that 
when the game was lost, Johnston was intent only 
to put the blame on Pemberton. But how does he 
clear himself? Where was he in the thirteen days 
from the 3d to the 16th of May? He made a pre- 
tense of defending Jackson, but if he had any (as he 
must have had) correct information about Grant's 
forces, he must have known that to be impossible. 
Why did he scatter himself and Gregg off in differ- 
ent directions? If he could be of any use to Pem- 
berton, he had an opportunity, in those thirteen days, 
of uniting with him, or provisioning Vicksburg, if it 
could be done. The truth is, Johnston did not then, 
or at any time in the war, vindicate the reputation 
he had acquired. One thing he did, which, at first 
sight, seems sound judgment. He told Pemberton 
to leave Vicksburg, and save his army.' But, if he 
left Vicksburg, he left the Mississippi. The whole 
of it must at once fall into our hands, and the sun 



1 Pemberton was actually moving to join Johnston when Grant 
attacked him at Champion's Hill. He dispatched to Johnston particu- 
larly about his route, when he added, " Heavy skirmishing now going 
on in my front." Grant had been too quick for him. 



208 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

did not shine more certainly than that the loss of the 
Mississippi was the loss of the war. They did not 
clearly see this either at Washington or Richmond ; 
but it was not the less a fact. 

But let us pursue our march. Vicksburg was 
invested fully on the 22d of May, and, to all practical 
purposes, this must be the end of Vicksburg. There 
was the possibility that the rebel Government could 
get another army together and raise the siege. There 
was great reliance at Richmond on Johnston. There 
were constant rumors in the Northern newspapers 
of rebel armies coming to the relief of Pemberton, 
and endangering Grant. But let us see what did 
happen. The events of any decisive importance in 
the siege are few. Haines's Bluff, that most formida- 
ble post, had been abandoned by the enemy, and its 
garrison withdrawn to Vicksburg. It was no longer 
worth any thing. Strategy had done what Sherman, 
with forty thousand men, had been unable to do by 
storm. It is said that on the 1 8th — six long months 
after Sherman's attack — Grant and Sherman met on 
the farthest hight of Walnut Hills, and looked down 
on the Yazoo River, and the very bluff which Sher- 
man had stormed in vain ; and Sherman acknowl- 
edged that he could not see the end till then ; but 
now the campaign was a success, if they never took 
the town.' Grant smoked his cigar and said noth- 
ing. To him the campaign was a success when he 
crossed the Mississippi and turned the enemy's left, 
so as to command the Jackson road. 

1 This statement rests wholly on the authority of Badeau in his 
"Military History." 



A NAPOLEONIC PROCLAMATION. 209 

We are now before Vicksburg, cutting the unfor- 
tunate Pemberton off from any possibility of escape. 
And here we come to one of Grant's characteristics, 
in this case quite remarkable. The critics say he 
had no genius. I have shown he had a genius for 
war. But there was one sort of genius he had not a 
bit of. He had no genius for brag and bluster. In- 
deed, he was singularly deficient in the art of boast- 
ing. It never struck him, when standing on the 
bluffs of Walnut Hills, what a wonderful proclaim 
tion he might have made. In this he was something 
like the great Frederick, whose proclamations were 
the briefest possible, and whose brag was nothing. 
But what a genius Napoleon had for it! Napoleon 
is the great admiration of young writers, and such 
imaginative critics as read Jomini, and Thiers, and 
Napoleon's Conversations, and then think they know 
the whole theory of the art of war, and are able to 
pronounce at once that Grant had no genius, that he 
was himself an accident, and that a long line of un- 
interrupted successes are all due to a series of happy 
accidents ! I leave such people to the judgment of 
posterity, at whose bar they will appear no more 
ridiculous than have many of the historians of past 
ages. But let us read Grant's proclamation as Napo- 
leon would have written it. Here it is : 

"Soldiers of the Army of the Mississippi! From 
the hights of Vicksburg you look down upon your 
defeated enemy, and share in the joy of glorious vic- 
tory! In a campaign of twenty days you have 
marched two hundred miles, beaten the enemy in 
five successive battles, taken eighty-eight pieces of 

18 



210 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

field and heavy artillery, captured six thousand, five 
hundred prisoners, and put six thousand hors de 
combat ! You have seized the capital of the enemy, 
destroyed his railroad communications, and driven 
him into his last refuge, whence he can not escape! 
Soldiers, your commander congratulates you, and the 
Republic is grateful !" 

Such would have been the proclamation of Na- 
poleon, with the advantage, in Grant's case, that every 
word would have been true. But, alas ! for the sol- 
dier who wants either the stimulus of vanity, or the 
genius of imagination ! He will be contented with 
success, and allow facts to make history, and his- 
torians to proclaim that he was deficient in genius, 
in manners, and in humanity. 1 

On the 22d of May, Grant, either from misinfor- 
mation or misapprehension of the enemy's strength, 
ventured on an assault, which proved to be a mistake. 
Vicksburg was naturally and artificially strongly for- 
tified, and fortified places are never attempted by as- 
sault in European warfare, and ought not to be any 
where. When we come to set down with an army 
before a strongly fortified and fully garrisoned place, 
we can have no resource but regular approaches. 
Here the engineer is the real commander, and by his 
skill alone can the place be taken, unless starved out. 
Grant had not hesitated to depart from all European 
precedents in his strategy over our great plains, and 
forests, and rivers. No precedents were applicable to 

1 All these charges are brought against Grant by intelligent men, 
both rebel and Union. It is disgraceful to their information and to 
their intellect. 



GRA NT A ND Mc CLERNA ND. 2 1 1 

such a case, and he followed none. But here was a 
new experience. He was not an engineer officer, and 
knew nothing about fortified cities. So he made a 
furious assault, and the Corps of Sherman, McPher- 
son, and McClernand bravely, but uselessly, assaulted 
parapets and forts, manned with an army inside. It 
was in vain ; and we lost, in one form and another, 
nearly three thousand men. This was rather a sad 
comment on our victories. But it could make no 
difference in the result. It only taught Grant he 
must take another course. 

In the mean time Grant had a personal trouble, 
which gave him much uneasiness, 1 and which he now 
got rid of. This was General McClernand, who with 
the most patriotic motives, and good service in the 
war, seems to have been very unfit to command a 
corps, and who now, by misinformation to Grant on 
the field, caused a large part of the loss in the assault. 
The difficulty with McClernand was still further in- 
creased by his congratulatory order to his troops, 
dated May 31st, 2 by which those who read it, and know 

1 This will be best understood by a paragraph from Grant's Report 
to Halleck, dated May 24th : " The loss on our side was not very heavy 
at first, but receiving repeated dispatches from Major-General McCler- 
nand, saying that he was hard pressed on his right and left, and calling 
for reinforcements, I gave him all of McPherson's Corps but four 
brigades, and caused Sherman to press the enemy on our right, which 
caused us to double our losses for the day. They will probably reach 
fifteen hundred killed and wounded. General McClernand's dispatches 
misled me as to the facts, and caused much of this loss. He is entirely 
unfit for the position of corps commander, both on the march and on 
the battle-field. Looking after his corps gives me more labor and in- 
finitely more uneasiness than all the remainder of my department." 

2 See McClernand's Order, " Rebellion Record," Vol. VI, p. 637. 
The paragraph in relation to Champion's Hill, in which he speaks of 



212 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

no more, would learn that the battles had all been 
fought, and the work all done, by MeClernand's 
Corps. He seems to have been very nervous, easily 
excited, and not fully to have comprehended military 
positions. With all this, he had much merit, and had 
done much service. He was, however, removed, and 
General Ord put in command of his corps. 

I need not enter into the details of the siege of 
Vicksburg. They will interest few except engineers. 
Grant found that the place was to be taken only by 
ordinary approaches, and he must have reinforce- 
ments. Lammon's Division from Memphis, and two 
divisions of the Sixteenth Corps, came; on the iith 
of June, General Kinney's Division, from the Depart- 
ment of Missouri, arrived ; and on the 14th of June, 
two divisions of the Ninth Corps, under General Parke. 
Thus we see that Grant was soon reenforced enough 
to put him beyond any possibility of danger from 
an attack on his rear — the east. Johnston was com- 
pelled to look on at a distance, and see his enemy's 
success. Grant raised counter-fortifications to the 
rebels, and drew his lines closer and stronger. He 
made mines, and blew them up ; but there is only one 
case in which mines are useful — that is, when they 
are actually under the enemy's ramparts, and blow 
open a passage. They are the last things to be used 
previous to the assault. So they went on mining till 
the 25th of June, when a grand mine exploded, and 
they prepared for a storm of the intrenchments. The 

winning the battle, "with the assistance of ARPhersou's Corps" is most 
extraordinary. Hovey's Division did belong to MeClernand's Corps, 
but it was the only one in the battle, and was directed that day by Grant. 



SURRENDER OF VICE'S BURG. 213 

parallels of Grant's army had got so near, in some 
places, that the Union and the rebel soldiers talked 
to each other over the parapets, and even went so far 
as to interchange supplies of tobacco and crackers. 
This is very much like gleams of sunshine in the 
midst of a storm. Poor human nature will speak out 
its human sympathy in the midst of the terrors of 
war. Alas ! is there no remedy for the ills of Gov- 
ernment but these terrible ills of war ? At last, when 
our men were almost near enough to the enemy to 
touch them — when they were just peeping over the 
parapets — when the citizens and rebel soldiers had 
been for days living on mule flesh — when the last 
hope had expired in Pemberton's breast, and he had 
vindicated to the world that he was not a traitor to 
his cause, (for they had charged him with being one,) 
on the 3d of July he asked for terms of surrender. 
The terms were agreed upon, the delivery of the 
place to be made next day. So, at 10 o'clock on 
Saturday, the glorious 4th of July, the garrison of 
Vicksburg marched out and stacked their arms in 
front of their conquerors. 

" All along the rebel works they poured out, in 
gray, through the sally-ports and across the ditches, 
and laid down their colors, sometimes on the very 
spot where so many of the besiegers had laid down 
their lives ; and then, in sight of the National troops, 
who were standing on their own parapets, the rebels 
returned inside the works, prisoners of war. Thirty- 
one thousand, six hundred men were surrendered to 
Grant. Among these were two thousand, one hund- 
red and fifty-three officers, of whom fifteen were gQi\- 



2T4 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

erals. One hundred and seventy-two cannon also fell 
into his hands, the largest capture of men and material 
ever made in war" ' 

Logan's Division entered first, and the Forty- 
Fifth Illinois placed its battle-flag on the Court- 
House of Vicksburg. Two thousand officers were 
surrendered ; and their temper and behavior is thus 
described in the concluding scene by Badeau, who, I 
suppose, was present : 

" Grant rode into the town, with his staff, at the 
head of Logan's Division. The rebel soldiers gazed 
curiously at their conqueror, as he came inside the 
lines that had resisted him so valiantly, but they paid 
him no sign of disrespect. He went direct to one 
of the rebel head-quarters : there was no one to re- 
ceive him, and he dismounted and entered the porch 
where Pemberton sat with his generals ; they saluted 
Grant, but not one offered him a chair, though all 
had seats themselves. Neither the rank nor the rep- 
utation of their captor, nor the swords he had allowed 
them to wear, prompted them to this simple act of 
courtesy. Pemberton was especially sullen, both in 
conversation and behavior. Finally, for very shame, 
one of the rebels offered a place to Grant. The day 
was hot and dusty ; he was thirsty from his ride, and 
asked for a drink of water. They told him he could 
find it inside ; and, no one showing him the way, he 
groped in a passage till he found a negro, who gave 
him the cup of cold water only, which his enemy had 

1 Badeau's " Military History." At the surrender of Ulm only 
thirty thousand men and sixty pieces of cannon were captured. Pem- 
berton had thirty-two thousand. 



EFFECTS OF CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG. 21 5 

almost denied. When he returned, his seat had been 
taken, and he remained standing during the rest of 
the interview, which lasted about half an hour." 

I suppose it is not easy for human nature to feel 
pleasant under the circumstances in which Pemberton 
and his officers were placed. But it was not the con- 
duct which a Bayard or a Washington would have 
displayed, nor one which we should have expected 
from Southern chivalry. So ended the drama of 
Vicksburg ; and though the war lasted nearly two 
years longer, they were years, on the part of the 
rebels, of hopeless controversy. Port Hudson imme- 
diately fell. We turned back the whole left line of 
rebel defenses, and folded their armies back on Chat- 
tanooga and Richmond. Vicksburg was decisive, and 
Grant came out of that campaign with the congratu- 
lations of a nation, and victorious over the opinions 
of the Government, as well as the armies of the rebels. 



2l6 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE PREPARATION. 

GRANT ORDERS SHERMAN TO ADVANCE — JACKSON RETAKEN, 
AND THE CAMPAIGN ENDED — GRANT IS OPPOSED TO TRADE 
ON THE LINES — PROTECTS NEGRO SOLDIERS — WANTS TO 
MOVE ON MOBILE — FAILURE OF THE POTOMAC CAMPAIGNS 
AND SUCCESS OF ROSECRANS — GOVERNMENT FAILS TO RE- 
ENFORCE HIM — LINCOLN'S PROCLAMATION AND ITS MORAL 
EFFECT. 

" Hail, Father of Waters ! again thou art free ! 
And miscreant treason hath vainly enchained thee ; 
Roll on, mighty river, and bear to the sea 
The praises of those who so gallantly gained thee J 

From fountain to ocean, from source to the sea, 

The West is exulting — ' Our river is free !' 

Fit emblem of freedom ! thy home is the North ! 

And thou wert not forgot by the mother that bore thee; 

From snows everlasting thou chainless burst forth, 

And chainless we solemnly swore to restore thee. 
O'er river and prairie, o'er mountain and lea, 
The North is exulting — ' Our river is free !' " ' 



"She comes from St. Louis ! Away with the plea 
That river or people divided may be ! 
One current sweeps past us, one likeness we wear; 
One flag through the future right proudly we '11 bear; 
All hail to the day without malice or jar ! 
She comes from St. Louis ! Hurrah and hurrah !" 3 

'From "Opening of the Mississippi." by Captain R. H. Crittenden. 

a ()n the 16th of July, 1863, the steamboat Imperial arrived at New Orleans from 
St Louis, and this verse is taken from a spirited Ode, written for that event, by Edna 
Dean Proctor. 



JOHNS TON AGAIN O UTGENERALED. 2 1 7 

THE Mississippi was free, indeed, and the tide of 
war ebbed back from its banks. Grant did not 
sleep upon his achievements. Before the prisoners 
were paroled (on the evening of the 3d of July) 
Grant wrote to Sherman : " Make all your calcula- 
tions to attack Johnston, and destroy the road north 
of Jackson." For Johnston, on the investment of 
Vicksburg, had taken possession of Jackson, had been 
reenforced by several divisions of troops, and had 
been making vain efforts to attack Grant on a weak 
point, or get Pemberton to do so. He now lay at 
Jackson, in a sullen humor, brooding over what he 
called Pemberton's blunders and his own ill-fortune. 1 
Sherman promptly obeyed the order to march. 
Ord and Steele, with their corps, followed, and by the 
1 2th of July the army was again in front of Jackson. 
This place was on Pearl River, and on the 13th both 
flanks of our army touched on the river. Johnston 
was well fortified, and got the idea that Sherman 
meant to attack him, in which case he hoped to suc- 
ceed behind his defenses ; but this General would 
make no such mistake, and quietly began to throw 
up intrenchments. Johnston is again outgeneraled. 

1 1 have already stated my conviction, founded only on his own 
orders, reports, and movements, that Johnston was an overrated man. 
His true course was, even if he had but small force, to keep up an 
incessant attack on Grant, and keep near him, to give Pemberton some 
chance of escape. He did exactly the contrary. He kept as far off as 
he could, and talked of cutting off Grant's supplies. He says in his 
report: "On the 12th I said to him, 'To take from Bragg a force 
which would make this army fit to oppose Grant, would involve yield- 
ing Tennessee. It is for the Government to decide between this 
State and Tennessee.' " They had no part of Tennessee but Chatta- 
nooga, and all they did with Bragg's army was to make worthless raids, 

19 



2i8 LIFE OF GENFRAL GRANT* 

He writes to the rebel President : u If the enemy will 
not attack, we must, at the last moment, withdraw;" 
and he did. Again, Jackson is made a scene of deso- 
lation. Railroads, locomotives, cars, and bridges are 
destroyed on every side for many miles. The cam- 
paign is at an end ; the capital of Mississippi is a 
second time occupied ; all the rebel fortifications on 
the river captured or destroyed, and the army of 
Pemberton, which had exceeded fifty thousand men, 
taken, destroyed, or scattered. 1 

It is most fortunate for Grant that his merit (and 
no critic or historian can think it small) in the 
Vicksburg campaign can be shared with no other 
generals, nor with the Government itself. Nor was 
there wanting proof to establish this, nor generosity in 
the Administration to acknowledge it. The nation 
rejoiced, and Lincoln was surprised. On the 13th 
of July he wrote that memorable letter to Grant — 
one of the curiosities of literature, for its magnanim- 
ity, and as characteristic of the man : 

"My Dear General, — I do not remember that you 
and I ever met personally. I write this now as a 
grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable 
service you have done the country. I wish to say a 
word further. When you first reached the vicinity 
of Vicksburg, I thought you should do what you 
finally did — march the troops across the neck, run 

1 I have s;iid that the armv of Pemberton numbered on the rolls, at 
the beginning "t tin- < ampaign, 52,000 men. The following statement is 
the nearest I can come to the losses of Pemberton: Surrendered at 
Vicksburg, 31,600; captured at Champion's Hill, 3,000; captured at 
Big black ami Port Gibson, 3,000; killed and wounded, 10,000; 
est aped under Loring, 5,000. Aggregate, 52,600 men. 



LAST DISPA TCH FR OM VICKSB URG. 2 1 9 

the batteries with the transports, and thus go below ; 
and I never had any faith, except a general hope 
that you knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pass 
expedition and the like could succeed. When you 
got below and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf, and 
vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and 
join General Banks ; and when you turned north- 
ward, east of the Big Black, I feared it was a mis- 
take. I now wish to make a personal acknowledg- 
ment that you were right, and I was wrong." 

Halleck also was liberal in his praise — compared 
his campaign to that of Napoleon at Ulm, and spoke 
of his report as " brief, soldierly, and in every respect 
creditable and satisfactory." I have said Grant did 
not know how, and has not yet learned how, to pro- 
claim his own merits, or even that of the army ; so 
his report was "brief and soldierly" — nothing more. 1 
Grant's last words in the campaign of Vicksburg 
were sent in the telegram of the 18th of July, an- 
nouncing the retreat of Johnston. And now, looking 
out for new preparations, he said : " It seems to me 
now that Mobile should be captured, the expedi- 
tion starting from some point on Lake Pontchar- 
train." He was looking from the ruins of Vicksburg 
into the future of the drama, as its scenes drew 
toward the end. 

And now, before we turn our eyes toward Chat- 
tanooga, let us turn to some points in the conduct of 
the war which concern Grant's administrative ability, 

1 Some newspaper said : Grant neither made a speech to his sol- 
diers, nor inarched at the head of a column ! The last is false, but the 
former is true. 



220 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

in which he has shown himself superior to any man 
of the day, and, therefore, fully competent to take 
charge of the most extensive executive duties. As 
soon as we got possession of Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee on the Cumberland and the Mississippi, it 
was perfectly natural that the commercial public 
should immediately want to trade there. The war 
had straitened trade, especially that in the Missis- 
sippi Valley. The merchants panted to renew it, and 
the speculators more than the merchants ; the vul- 
tures who follow in the track of the eagle are ever 
watchful for the carcass ; the jackal is waiting for 
the prey left by the lion. 1 One of the most disgrace- 
ful chapters in the history of modern civilization is 
that which describes the attempt to trade over the 
dead bodies of fallen men, and make profit out of the 
sufferings of a country ! This conduct is natural, and 
perhaps human nature is not to be blamed for its in- 
stincts. However this may be, a body of traders in 
the wake, or near the camps of an army, is hostile, if 
not fatal, to its success ; and Grant, who had all the 
qualities of a good soldier, was utterly opposed to it. 
The traders were continually pressing the Secretary 
of the Treasury to open trade, and he wrote to Grant 
that "this rigorous line" gives rise to "serious, and 
some well-founded, complaints." The Secretary sug- 
gested bonds to be given by parties having permits. 
Grant replied, with truth and sound judgment : " No 
matter what the restrictions thrown around trade, if 
any whatever is allowed, it will be made the means of 

1 Every body remembers the story of John Hook entering the camp 
of the Revolutionary Army, crying, "Beef! beef!" 



NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 221 

supplying the enemy with all they want." All history 
proves this, and it is only surprising that the Govern- 
ment could have thought of permitting it. There is 
no doubt that this border trade did a great deal of 
mischief during the war. Grant said, however, that, 
whatever he thought, he would obey. Badeau quotes 
this passage from him: "No theory of my ozuu will 
ever stand in the ivay of my executing in good faith 
any order I may receive from those in authority over 
me ; but my position has given me an opportunity of 
seeing what could not be known by persons away 
from the scene of war, and I venture, therefore, great 
caution in opening trade with rebels." 

Such was Grant's sound judgment on the question 
of trade with enemies. He was equally sound and ju- 
dicious on the question arising out of the employ- 
ment of negro soldiers. When the history of these 
times is read by posterity, nothing will appear so 
strange, so fatuitous, as our hesitation to employ ne- 
gro soldiers, or our doubts about emancipation. A 
large part of the American people seemed laboring 
under awful delusions. In the South, we know they 
were ; and we were scarcely less so in the North. 
What is the object of war? Destruction — certainly so 
far as to subdue your enemy! Do you use a gun to 
kill with ? then why not a negro, if he can be made 
a soldier ? Is the negro your enemy's property ? then 
why not destroy that property by emancipation ? All 
this was plain to true military men, but it came slowly 
to the country. Gradually we accepted the negroes as 
soldiers, and finally Lincoln's glorious emancipation 
destroyed property in them. Grant looked upon the 



222 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

negro simply as a soldier. When we enlisted negroes 
in our defense, he knew they must be protected. It 
would demoralize the Government, the army, and the 
nation not to protect the negro soldier. The rebels, 
however, thought they could punish the negro, and 
not the white soldier. Not so thought Grant, and so 
he taught them. He went into no physiology or met- 
aphysics about whether the negro was a man or a 
baboon — whether he was a slave or a freeman — he 
knew him as an American soldier, entitled to all the 
rights of other soldiers ; and he meant those rights 
should be protected. 

" The rebels at first refused to recognize black 
troops as soldiers, and threatened that, if captured, 
neither they nor their white officers should receive 
the treatment of prisoners of war ; the former were 
to be regarded as runaway slaves, the latter as thieves 
and robbers, having stolen and appropriated slave 
property. Grant, however, was determined to protect 
all those whom he commanded ; and when it was re- 
ported to him that a white captain and some negro 
soldiers, captured at Milliken's Bend, had been hung, 
he wrote to General Richard Taylor, then command- 
ing the rebel forces in Louisiana : ' I feel no inclina- 
tion to retaliate for the offenses of irresponsible per- 
sons, but, if it is the policy of any general intrusted 
with the command of troops to show no quarter, or 
to punish with death prisoners taken in battle, I will 
accept the issue.' " l 

The rebels made a pretense of referring the mat- 
ter to the State authorities, but took care to do noth- 

1 Badeau's " Military History," page 408. 



EFFECTS OF WASHINGTON INFLUENCE. 223 

ing which would bring upon them the retaliation 
with which Grant had threatened them. 

On the 24th of July Grant again urged the at- 
tack on Mobile, and suggested, what was true, that 
it would make a diversion from Bragg's army. But 
one of the finest opportunities of the war was lost, 
and that for reasons which had no force whatever. 
Rosecrans was left without sufficient forces, and, as 
a consequence, to lose the battle of Chickamauga ; 
and we failed to take Mobile, at an inviting moment, 
because Banks, with a large army, had been sent to 
Texas. 1 And what became of Banks ? No part of 
all our military movements in Louisiana and Texas 
was worth one-fourth part the men we lost there. It 
was the weakest part of all the military conduct of 
the Government. Washington was continually coun- 
teracting all that Grant, or Rosecrans, or any good 
officer could do, and its treatment of Rosecrans was 
what no honest man can regard without pain. 2 

Mobile was not attacked. Banks was sent to 
Louisiana and Texas, to waste a fine army in useless 
expeditions ; Rosecrans was left without reinforce- 
ments ; and Bragg allowed, uninterrupted, to collect 
an immense force in front of Chattanooga, and almost, 
but happily not altogether, to succeed in taking that 
key-point in the strategy of the war. In fact, from 

1 Lincoln and Halleck both wrote to Grant that this was the reason. 

2 I am glad that the evidence, both oral and documentary, shows 
that Grant was entirely innocent of the wrong done Rosecrans. What 
that wrong was, and who did It, will be seen in the next pages. Grant 
seems to have had none of that malicious weakness which strives to 
elevate himself by putting other people down. He was just to his 
generals, and willing to obey. 



224 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the middle of July to the middle of October, three 
precious months were wasted, illustrating one great 
principle of war, that to take advantage of a victory- 
is as important as to gain it. In the last days of 
August, Grant went to New Orleans, and, at a review 
there, unfortunately was thrown from his horse, which 
confined him to one position for a month, and for 
two months he had to use crutches. To understand 
what now became the part of Grant and of the 
Western armies, we must glance for a single moment 
at what had been done in other parts of the battle- 
field, in the long time since Grant left Cairo for the 
conquest of the Mississippi. 

McClellan had made his grand march on the 
Peninsula, fought a dozen battles, and fought them 
well, but had been compelled to return to the Poto- 
mac to drive Lee out of Maryland ; had won victo- 
ries at South Mountain and Antietam, and at last 
terminated his career by inglorious delay. Then 
Burn side had made his disastrous assault on Freder- 
icksburg, losing thousands, and nothing accomplished. 
Then Hooker had crossed the Rapidan, and made 
masterly dispositions, fought a great battle, and re- 
tired, because the water was high ! Such, for two 
years, had been the proceedings on the Potomac ; 
armies after armies marching and fighting with no 
result whatever, except the loss of more men than 
Grant was charged with losing in his grand cam- 
paign for the conquest of Richmond.' Nor had the 

1 ( »ne of the gravest charges made against Grant is, that, to obtain 
success, he sacrificed a vast number of men before Richmond Let 
such critics count up the losses of two years of failures, and see 
whether they are any lebs than Grant's luss in one year of success. 



VALUE OF MISSISSIPPI CAMPAIGN. 225 

rebel general done any better. Lee had made two 
grand raids with his whole army into Maryland and 
Pennsylvania, each time losing thousands of men he 
could not afford to lose, and accomplishing nothing. 
At length, in his last raid, on the same 4th of July 
on which Vicksburg surrendered, he met with our 
army at Gettysburg, and suffered a most disastrous 
defeat. But even Gettysburg was decisive in only a 
negative sense. It was what we were saved from, and 
not what we gained, which made it important. We 
did not advance to Richmond by Gettysburg. In one 
word, all the military schemes and strategy of the 
Potomac campaigns had been indecisive and worthless. 1 
The reason was obvious. The whole idea of the 
Richmond campaign at that time was wrong, because, 
if we had taken Richmond, the mountains and valleys 
of Virginia, as Davis had declared, would have 
been easily defended. Armies in the field, as well 
as fortified towns, are only successfully attacked when 
they are turned, and their resources are cut off. The 
army of Lee, even if beaten in the field, must be 
practically successful till his resources in the South- 
West were cut off, and the Mississippi became our 
base of operations. It was not till Grant had con- 
quered the Mississippi that the conquest of Virginia 
became possible, and then it was only possible by 
enabling us to hold and operate from Chattanooga. 

Now let us turn to another field of the West. 
We have seen Rosecrans in the successful battles of 
Iuka and Corinth, exhibiting the qualities of a brill- 

1 The only way to disprove this verdict is to show that in October, 
1863, we were nearer Richmond than in October, 1861. 



226 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

iant and brave soldier. It is evident he was one of 
the men the Government wanted. Accordingly, in 
the autumn of 1862, he was appointed to command 
the army forming in Middle Tennessee to act against 
Bragg, and with Chattanooga as the objective point. 
Soon after, he fought the great battle of Stone River, 
in which he showed the talent of a great general. 
Following this up with successful strategy through 
Tullahoma, he drove Bragg back, and, on September 
9, 1863, triumphantly entered Chattanooga. This 
was the key-point of the rebel line of defense, with- 
out which, any attempts to defend the South-West, 
or prevent the fall of Richmond, would be in vain. 
The captures of Vicksburg and Chattanooga were 
twin events. At the time this happened, it will be 
remembered, Grant was confined to his bed with a 
fall from his horse at New Orleans, and that Sher- 
man had just closed up the campaign with Johnston, 
and that for some reason — which did not lie at the 
door of Grant, but was clearly the offspring of Wash- 
ington management — the troops were scattered in 
various directions, and not sent, as they ought to 
have been, to Rosecrans. The consequence was, 
the battle of Chickamauga, called a defeat, but which 
was only partially so, (for nothing is a defeat where 
the enemy gains nothing,) by which Rosecrans fell, 
for a time, under a shadow. It was only a shadow, 
for a careful examination of the facts by any impar- 
tial mind will prove that the most charged againsl 
Rosecrans was only some temporary indiscretion 
Was this ground to dismiss a successful and a popu- 
lar general ? In the West it was a very unpopular 



GRANT AT INDIANAPOLIS. 227 

act of the Government, nor can I get rid of the im- 
pression that it was equally unjust. But with its 
policy or its injustice Grant had nothing to do. He 
was far distant from Chattanooga, and unmixed with 
the personal or political intrigues which in our war, 
as in all others, mingled in the operations of the 
army, as in the proceedings of the Cabinet. It hap- 
pened, fortunately for himself as well as the country, 
that Grant's temperament, as well as disconnection 
with party intrigues, enabled him to arrive at calm 
and impartial judgments without doing any thing 
unjust to individuals, or contrary to the policy of the 
Government. When, therefore, Grant was offered the 
command of the army at Chattanooga, he accepted 
it on grounds of duty and policy, without reference 
to the particular position of Rosecrans, or the plans 
for the Potomac. He was simply aiming at the suc- 
cess of the whole military system. 1 

The Secretary of War had gone to the West, and 
met Grant at Indianapolis for a conference. The 
Secretary gave Grant the command of the armies of 
the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee. On 
this Colonel Badeau makes the following extraordi- 
nary statement : 

"The Secretary of War accompanied him as far 
as Louisville ; there both remained a day, discussing 
the situation of affairs, and Grant gathering the views 

1 It is proper to say that, on the 13th of September, Halleck had 
telegraphed that Grant's available force should be sent to Memphis, 
and thence to Rosecrans. This dispatch did not arrive till after the 
battle of Chickamauga was fought ; and for this long and unnecessary 
delay of two months in sending Rosecrans reinforcements, Halleck, as 
it appears, is responsible. 



228 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT, 

of the Government. During this clay the minister 
received a dispatch from Mr. C. A. Dana, his sub- 
ordinate, at Chattanooga, intimating that the danger 
of an abandonment of Chattanooga was instant; that 
Rosecrans was absolutely preparing for such a move- 
ment. The Secretary at once directed Grant to im- 
mediately assume his new command, and to relieve 
Rosecrans before it was possible for the apprehended 
mischief to be consummated." 

There is no evidence whatever that Rosecrans had 
the least idea of abandoning Chattanooga at any time. 
Why should he want to? Chattanooga was the fruit 
of his own success ; the laurel which adorned his 
own brow. Why should he give it up? No man has 
charged Rosecrans with want of resolution or of 
courage. The dispatch from Dana arrived several 
days after Chickamauga, when there was no imme- 
diate danger whatever; nor did Grant set out till the 
19th of October, nearly a month after. It is difficult 
to see what business Mr. Dana had in the army at 
that particular time, or from what quarter he derived 
his information. He did not get it from General 
Rosecrans, and it looks like a figment of his own 
imagination. 

One other event (memorable in the affairs of men 
and nations) I must mention before we proceed. 
This was the Proclamation of Emancipation, issued 
as Order No. 1, on the 1st of January, 1863. What- 
ever legal effect might, on the return of peace, (in 
case slavery had not been abolished by the States,) 
attach to this document, three consequences fol- 
lowed of vast importance. As a military order, it 



THE EM A NCIPA TION PR O CLAM A TION. 2 29 

was conclusive on the army, and at once did away 
with the absurd idea of many officers, that property 
in slaves was to be respected. It was most absurd 
and most mischievous, that, in the beginning of the 
war, some commanders in the army actually believed 
and acted on the idea that they must respect prop- 
erty in man ! War, of necessity, abolished slavery in 
all that concerned war. I have already shown that 
Grant compelled the rebels to respect the rights of 
negro soldiers. Fremont, in Missouri, had proclaimed 
them free, and the Government was so frightened 
that it instantly repealed the order!- Such is the 
terrible effect, even on the strongest minds, of a 
moral insanity, which seems to corrupt even the 
constitution of the human soul. But this order, if it 
did not destroy the moral delusion, became the 
law of the army, and Grant was very willing to live 
up to it. Another effect was, a decided reaction on 
the public opinion of Europe, especially that of En- 
gland. France was ready to declare against us, con- 
quer Mexico, and extend, as Napoleon expressed it, 
the limits of the Latin race. But Napoleon had not 
the moral courage to act without England, and the 
English aristocracy (naturally detesting republican- 
ism) dared not act with the workingmen against 
them. Such was the situation of affairs when Lin- 
coln's Proclamation threw the whole antislavery 
people of England (and that was a vast number) in 
our favor. Thus England was held fast, and France 
dared not act alone. 

But a greater effect was produced on the opinion 
of this country. Perhaps very few people, if any, 



230 LIFE OF GENERAL CI? A XT. 

were added to the numerical strength of the Govern- 
ment, and in the South the majority of Unionists 
were carried over to the rebels. But the moral effect 
was of far greater weight than all that. A moral 
idea of tremendous force now impelled and stimu- 
lated the supporters of Government, while, on the 
other hand, the moral depression on the rebel mind 
was equally great. They saw clearly that all hope 
of help from Europe was gone, and that nothing but 
a miraculous military success could save the thou- 
sands of millions in slave property from utter de- 
struction. In fine, the moral crisis of the war was 
passed when Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proc- 
lamation, though Vicksburg and Gettysburg had not 
yet come. Of all the heroic acts which live in his- 
tory, none was nobler than that of Lincoln ; and of 
all the laurels which adorn the memories of heroes 
and of statesmen, none are greener, or will live 
longer, than those of the great American President. 



CHATTANOOGA. 23 1 



CHAPTER X. 

CHATTANOOGA. 

THE SWITZERLAND OF AMERICA — THE SUCK OF THE TENNES- 
SEE — CHATTANOOGA — GRANT TAKES COMMAND — BRAGG 
BOASTS — ROSECRANS'S PREPARATIONS — HOOKER MOVES ON 
LOOKOUT — ROADS SAFE — BRAGG DETACHES LONGSTREET — 

GRANT MAKES ALL ARRANGEMENTS SENDS ORDER TO 

BURNSIDE — BATTLE ABOVE THE CLOUDS — HOOKER STORMS 
LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN — SHERMAN ATTACKS MISSIONARY 
RIDGE — THOMAS BREAKS THE ENEMY'S CENTER — GREAT 
VICTORY — SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE — CAMPAIGN ENDED. 

" The day had been one of dense mists and rains, and much of General Hooker's 
battle was fought above the clouds, which concealed him from our view, but from 
which his musketry was heard."— General Meigs to Secretary Stanton. 

" By the banks of Chattanooga, watching with a soldier's heed, 
In the chilly autumn morning, gallant Grant was on his steed ; 
For the foe had climbed above him with the banners of their band, 
And the cannon swept the river from the hills of Cumberland. 

Like a trumpet rang his orders : ' Howard, Thomas, to the bridge ! 
One brigade aboard the Dunbar ! storm the hights of Mission Ridge, 
On the left the ledges, Sherman, charge and hurl the rebels down ! 
Hooker, take the steeps of Lookout, and the slopes before the town !' 

"T. B." 



" 'T was the legion so famed of the White Star, and led on by Geary 
the brave, 
That was chosen to gather the laurel, or find on the mountain a grave. 

O ! long as the mountains shall rise o'er the waters of bright Ten- 
nessee, 

Shall be told the proud deeds of the White Star, the cloud-treading 
host of the free ! 



232 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

The camp-fire shall blaze to the chorus, the picket-post peal it on 

high, 
How was fought the fierce battle of Lookout — how won the Grand 

Fight of the Sky !" ' 

THIRTY years ago I descended the Tennessee 
River in a little steamboat. At Knoxville I 
had attended a railroad convention, whose object was 
to unite the South and the West. Had the original 
plan been successfully carried out, who can tell 
whether the mutuality of interests and acquaintance 
might not have even prevented the terrible struggle 
which, twenty years after, took place ? Such was not 
the purpose of Providence. A great crime had to be 
avenged ; a great evil to be abolished ; a nation to be 
disciplined, and a great experiment to be tried on the 
possibility of self-government in a state of uninter- 
rupted freedom. At Knoxville I saw the Holston 
coming from the valley of Virginia to join the Ten- 
nessee, and both together roll toward the Father of 
Waters. The mountains stood around to sentinel the 
land, and as we passed below Kingston we came to 
the Suck of the Tennessee, where the river breaks 
through the Cumberland Ridges. There are but two 
other spots which compare with this : one is the pas- 
sage of the Hudson, through the mountain ridge, at 
West Point ; and the other that of the Potomac, at 
Harper's Ferry. They are very much alike in the 
main feature. The Tennessee was compressed at the 
Suck into so narrow and rocky a channel that it 
seemed impossible to pass by steamboat. To me, 
standing on the deck, it seemed scarcely as broad as 

1 " Lookout Mountain," by Alfred B. Street. 



THE S WITZERLA ND OF A MER ICA . 233 

the steamboat itself. On the south of the Suck was 
the grand Lookout Mountain, since so memorable in 
history. Above Lookout was Chattanooga Valley, 
and where it opens on the Tennessee was formerly 
Ross's Landing. This spot is the present Chatta- 
nooga ; but, when I was there, there was no town 
whatever; that is of recent creation. On the other 
side of Lookout, between that and Raccoon Ridge, 
was Lookout Valley. Chattanooga Valley was be- 
tween Missionary Ridge and Lookout. It will be seen 
there were three ridges — Mission, Lookout, and Rac- 
coon ; that between the first two was Chattanooga 
Valley, and between the last two Lookout Valley. 
The main ridge was Lookout Mountain, over two 
thousand feet in hight, which looked down upon the 
winding Tennessee in rugged and gloomy grandeur. 
It was winding round its base that the Tennessee 
made the " Suck," so called from the rapid whirl of 
the waters, tumbling over rocks, and compressed to 
a narrow breadth. On the opposite side were ridges 
also, but with broader valleys. Passing through these 
mountain gorges, in our little steamboat, I was forci- 
bly reminded of West Point, and its almost impreg- 
nable defenses. This was a Switzerland, which hardy 
freemen might defend against half a world. When 
the war broke out, in 1861, I urged upon General 
Mitchel the necessity of occupying East Tennessee 
and its principal points. He actually got an order 
to do that, when, soon after, it was countermanded, 
and he ordered to join Buell. McClellan said that 
he was anxious to occupy East Tennessee. Why did 
he not do it ? The fact is, the Government had no 

20 



ROSECRANS AT CHATTANOOGA. 235 

general plan of strategy, and constantly suffered itself 
to be diverted from its true objects by the raids and 
threatenings of the enemy. 

Grant took command of the army on the 19th 
of October. He telegraphed to Thomas, (who was 
that day put in command,) who replied : " I will hold 
the town till we starve /" This was the answer of a 
brave soldier, but it had been the decision of Rose- 
crans also ; and there was no great merit in it, for no 
good soldier would abandon Chattanooga while it was 
possible to hold it ; and the question was precisely the 
same to Rosecrans, to Thomas, and to Grant. That 
question was, simply, to starve or not to starve. The 
case was fairly stated by Bragg, who said : " Pos- 
sessed of the shortest route to his depot, and the 
one by which reinforcements must reach him, we 
hold him at our mercy, and his destruction is only a 
question of timer ' So Bragg thought ; but he was 
very apt to be mistaken ; and we shall see how it 
turned out. 2 The position of Rosecrans at Chatta- 
nooga was this: Partially defeated at Chickamauga, 
with very heavy losses of men, he was compelled to 
shut himself up in Chattanooga, and draw his line of 
defense around it, so that its safety should be made 

1 Bragg's Report. 

2 1 have said Chickamauga was not a defeat, and so said the rebels. 
The following is from a writer in the " Richmond Whig :" " That the 
campaign, so far, is a failure, and the battle of Chickamauga, though a 
victory, is not a success, are propositions too plain for denial. We 
have not recovered Chattanooga as yet, much less Tennessee, and it 
may be well for the country to inquire, whether the fault lies with a 
subordinate officer, or is to be traced to the inefficiency and incom- 
petency of one higher in rank — one who is presumed intellectually to 
direct the operations of the Army of Tennessee." 



236 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

certain. In doing this be lost, as Bragg said, his 
short communication by the Tennessee, and was 
compelled to carry his provisions by a circuitous 
route of sixty miles over Walden's Ridge. The re- 
sult was, that in the very bad state of the roads, and 
only wagons to rely on, that this became almost im- 
possible, and the army really was near starvation. 
The phrase of Thomas, that he would remain till he 
was starved, was very significant, though not very 
remarkable. On the 23d of October, Grant, having 
gone part of the way by rail and part on horseback, 
over almost impassable roads, (over which, being 
lame, he had sometimes to be carried,) arrived at 
Chattanooga. Here he saw, at once, that the first 
object was to regain the short line of supplies by 
Lookout Mountain and Valley. This was so obvious 
that Halleck had written him three days before to 
this effect, and Rosecrans had foreseen and made the 
arrangements by which it was to be done.' Colonel 

1 Halleck wrote to Grant on the 20th, (which Grant did not get, 
probably,) that the communication must he opened. That Rosecrans 
had made the arrangements, which (mainly) Grant adopted, is proved 
by the sworn testimony of Rosecrans, uncontradicted by any body. I 
take the following paragraph from Mr. Whitelaw Rcid's "Ohio in the 
War :" 

"General Rosecrans, in testimony under oath before the Committee 
on the Conduct of the War, specifically stated that he had formed these 
plans, had made reconnoissances preliminary to carrying them out, and 
had explained them (fifteen days, in fact, before his removal) to Generals 
Thomas and Garfield, and, some time later, to General William F. 
Smith, ('.rant afterward acknowledged, in terms, his indebtedness to 
General William F. Smith for the crossing below Chattanooga, and the 
i onnection with Hooker. 

" In the course of his testimony, just referred to, General Rosecrans 
said : ' As early as the 4th of October, I called the attention of Gen- 
erals Thomas and Garfield to the map of Chattanooga and vicinity, 



R OSE CRANS 1 S DETERMINATION. 237 

Badeau, after stating, as I have previously related, 
that Dana informed the Government that Rosecrans 
was about to abandon Chattanooga, on which Grant 
sent his hasty order of the 19th to Thomas, admits, 
in his " Military History," that Rosecrans had de- 
termined to hold Chattanooga. " When Rosecrans 
discovered the extent of his misfortune, he determ- 
ined, if possible, to hold Chattanooga, but thought 
himself unable to do more. The whole army was at 
once withdrawn into the town, and in two days a 
formidable line of works was thrown up, so close 
that some of the houses were left outside." 

This is the fact, and it is not necessary to the 
clear and just fame of General Grant, to misrepresent 
or diminish the merits of Rosecrans. This officer, 
relieved of his command, returned to Cincinnati, 
where, in the winter months, he served as President 
of the Sanitary Commission — a service whose laurels 
are as green, and whose memory will be longer than 
those won on the battle-field, for they will live among 
the immortals. 

On the 23d of September, Halleck ordered the 
Eleventh and Twelfth Corps from the Army of the 

and, pointing out to them the positions, stated that, as soon as I could 
possibly get the bridge materials for that purpose, I would take posses- 
sion of Lookout Valley (the point on the south side, reached by the 
march across the peninsula) and fortify it, thus completely covering 
the road from there to Bridgeport. ... To effect this General 
Hooker was directed to concentrate his troops at Stephenson and 
Bridgeport, and advised that, as soon as his train should arrive, or 
enough of it to subsist his army, ten or twelve miles from his depot, he 
would be directed to move into Lookout Valley. . . . On the 19th, 
I directed General William F. Smith to reconnoiter the shore above 
Chattanooga, with a view to that very movement on the enemy's right 
flank, which was afterward made by General Sherman.' " 



238 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Potomac, and sent them by rail to the support of 
Rosecrans, just three weeks too late. They came to 
Bridgeport, for, had they gone into Chattanooga, they 
would only have made bad worse by consuming pro- 
visions. In October, Burnside, with a large number 
of troops and the Ninth Corps, had taken Knoxville, 
and held the greater part of East Tennessee, but 
made no connection with Rosecrans. Here, then, 
was the position : Rosecrans in Chattanooga, with his 
army approaching starvation, and two corps at Bridge- 
port, ready to join him, and Burnside to the East, who 
ought to connect with him. The problem to be solved, 
as I have remarked, was very obvious. A junction 
must be made with Hooker, and the direct commu- 
nication opened. Brown's Ferry was near the foot 
of Raccoon Mountain, near Lookout Valley, and op- 
posite the Suck, or west side of Lookout Mountain. 
Near the foot of Lookout, and at the outlet of the val- 
ley, the rebels held position with a brigade. Now that 
was the very position to be taken ; for the distance 
from Brown's Ferry to Chattanooga, across Moccasin 
Point, was not very great. The plan was to send 
down a body of men in pontoons to Brown's Ferry, 
seize it, and build a bridge there. At the same time 
Hooker was to advance from Bridgeport by a wagon 
road, through a gap of Raccoon, to Wauhatchie, in 
Lookout Valley ; to seize the position of the enemy 
on the sides of Lookout Mountain ; all of which, if 
successful, would result in our getting a short com- 
munication by Bridgeport and Brown's Ferry. 1 

1 " Rosecrans had contemplated some movement of this sort, and 
had ordered a pontoon bridge to be prepared, but had been content 



HOWARD'S VICTOR T. 239 

The plan was successful. On the night of the 
26th, dark and foggy, Hazen descended, with eighteen 
hundred men, in sixty pontoon boats, rounded Look- 
out, and, by five o'clock, had seized the hills covering 
the ferry. Another body, with materials for a bridge, 
was moved across Moccasin Point, and, in two or 
three hours more, the hights rising from Lookout 
Valley were secured, and made safe from attack. 
On the same day, (the 26th,) Hooker crossed the 
Tennessee on pontoons, at Bridgeport, with the 
Eleventh and part of the Twelfth Corps, under How- 
ard and Geary ; descending through a gorge of Rac- 
coon Mountain, he arrived safely in Lookout Valley, 
and encamped at night within a mile of Brown's 
Ferry. The next night he was furiously attacked by 
Longstreet, who, after a severe battle, was repulsed. 
The enemy had attempted to dislodge Howard's 
Corps from hights considerably above him ; but he 
not only repulsed them, but seized the hights. Thus 
Lookout Valley and Brown's Ferry were seized and 
held, and, come what may, the army would be pro- 
visioned, and Bragg's boast be in vain. At the same 
time General Johnson marched from Chattanooga, 
with a part of the Fourth Corps, to hold the road 
passed over by Hooker, and command the hights 
near Kelly's Ferry, (a ferry between Brown's and 
Bridgeport,) and thus, by these ferries and a part of 
the river, the supply line was reduced to a com- 
paratively small distance. Thus one of the main 
parts of the strategic movement in the Chattanooga 

with such remote preliminaries." He had done all he could, and was 
then building two steamboats at Bridgeport. 



240 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

campaign was well and most successfully com- 
pleted. 

Grant now formed the design of attacking the reb- 
els on Missionary Ridge ; for Bragg's army lay in an 
"arc, with its right resting on Missionary Ridge, its 
center in Chattanooga Valley, and its left on Lookout 
Mountain. The strength of the position was on Mis- 
sionary Ridge, about four hundred feet above the 
valley of Chattanooga, and extending back for miles. 
Here lay the best part of the rebel army. The im- 
mediate object of the attack was to relieve Burnside's 
army in East Tennessee. To understand this, we 
must return for a moment to the position of Burnside. 
He had, as I have said, gone into East Tennessee 
with a large body of troops, and been reenforced with 
the Ninth Corps. Failing, however, to connect with 
Rosecrans's army at Chattanooga, he was now in 
danger of being cut off, and of suffering, if not of 
being absolutely captured, for want of food. A con- 
siderable body of rebel forces were coming down 
against him from Virginia, (which, however, turned 
out not to be very important,) and he was threatened 
with serious attack from Bragg. This last attack 
turned out, in the order of Providence, (as many 
other things did,) very contrary to the rebel expecta- 
tions, and very advantageous to Grant and Burnside. 
On the 4th of November, Longstreet, one of the best 
generals in the rebel army, received orders to take a 
corps and move into East Tennessee as rapidly as 
possible, give sudden blows, and, if possible, drive 
Burnside out, or better, capture or destroy him. 1 
1 Bragg's order to Longstreet, on the 4th of November. 



GENERAL BRAGG S MISTAKE. 24 1 

Longstreet accordingly set out, with about twenty 
thousand men, of which part were cavalry, under 
Wheeler. Bragg and Longstreet, who planned this 
expedition together, were both utterly mistaken as to 
the true position of affairs. Longstreet told Bragg 
that he had overestimated our army, that it would be 
no greater than his, after the proposed force was with- 
drawn. Perhaps, at that day, it was not. But Sher- 
man, with the Fifteenth Corps, and all the troops he 
could collect, was then marching in the Valley of 
the Tennessee for Chattanooga. Grant was fully 
aware that he must have a large army to drive Bragg 
back; and, therefore, had made arrangements for all 
the men and all the provisions he could get, to be 
hurried on to Chattanooga. He had anticipated this 
very movement, and was afraid that Bragg would 
burst through to the east of him, and so he wrote 
Sherman to hurry up. When, therefore, Bragg came 
to send twenty thousand men from his army on the 
chase for Burnside, Grant saw his advantage, and, 
writing to Burnside to hold on, even if he lost half 
his army, immediately prepared for the final shock 
at Chattanooga. We can now understand the posi- 
tion: Bragg sending off Longstreet to the east, and 
thus greatly weakening his own army, while Sherman 
(already arrived at Hunts ville) is hurrying up to Grant 
with an entire corps and several divisions ; Long- 
street rushing furiously after Burnside, and most sig- 
nally failing in the storm of Knoxville ; Sherman soon 
coming up; and Bragg resting in security, while 
Grant is preparing the storm to overwhelm him. 

21 



242 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

This is the real position on the 7th of November, 
although Sherman had not arrived. 

On that day (the 7th) Grant telegraphed Halleck 
that Longstreet was moving against Burnside, and 
said: "I have ordered Thomas to attack the north 
end of Missionary Ridge, and when that is carried 
to threaten or attack the enemy's line of communi- 
cation between Cleveland and Dalton/" But this 
was not to be quite so soon. The artillery was in 
the mud ; there were not horses to draw it ; things 
were not ready. In fine, the army could not move. 
Grant was compelled to do what was for the best 
under any circumstances, wait for Sherman to come 
up. No doubt Burnside was in great danger. Hal- 
leck was in great anxiety about him, and kept up a 
succession of telegrams to Grant. Grant saw all this, 
and had already told Burnside to do the only thing 
possible, and which, in fact, did save him. First, to 
rely on the loyal Tennesseans for provisions ; which 
he did, and got enough; and to fight to the last at 
Knoxville ; which he did, and was victorious. In fact, 
there was not so much real danger to Burnside as 
had been apprehended. It turned out, by comparing 
his dispatches to Grant and Halleck, in the middle 
of November, that, though the men might suffer in 
the winter, if Longstreet remained on the railroad 
south of him, yet there was no danger of starvation. 
He had plenty of beef, and kept the mills round 
grinding for him. He was on the Tennessee, be- 
tween Knoxville and Kingston, and had no idea of 

1 This, if successful, was to cut the communications between Bragg 
and Longstreet. 



A GRAND RECONNOISSANCE. 243 

falling back. He was ready for fight, if fight was 
necessary. In the mean time, during the first half 
of November, Grant was making every possible prep- 
aration for the support and movement of troops. 
Never was his administrative ability more strikingly 
exhibited. He was constantly dispatching all the 
commanders in his wide department to collect troops, 
munitions, provisions, and transportation. From every 
quarter they were coming. He got Porter to convey 
transports up the Cumberland. He ordered the Louis- 
ville and Nashville Railroad to be put to its utmost 
capacity of transportation, in order to supply the de- 
pots at Nashville, and got all the locomotives and 
steamboats possible to carry the supplies to Bridge- 
port. From every quarter troops and materials were 
concentrating to make the grand move from Chatta- 
nooga effective and decisive. 

At last, on the 16th, the Corps of Sherman arrived 
at Bridgeport, 1 and on the 18th at Chattanooga. On 
the 20th, Bragg performed a little maneuver which, 
if such deception were not justifiable in war, would 
be extremely ridiculous. He sent a note to Grant, 
that, as there were some non-combatants in Chat- 
tanooga, he would recommend their speedy with- 
drawal! Grant at once inferred that Bragg meant 
to withdraw his own forces. Accordingly, he imme- 
diately ordered a grand reconnoissance toward Mis- 
sionary Ridge, which was performed by General 
Thomas and four divisions. This was done on the 
23d of November, and was remarkably successful ; 

1 The reader should examine the little map, and get an idea of the 
localities. 



244 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

for General Wood's Division charged up and took 
Orchard Knob, a rather important spur of Missionary 
Ridge, and drove the enemy from their advanced in- 
trenchments. This encouraged the troops, and was 
a good beginning for the great conflict. It was dis- 
covered that the enemy actually were sending troops 
to Longstreet, and thus this movement was most 
opportune. 

The great object of attack was the north end of 
Missionary Ridge, an attack to be made by General 
Sherman ; but other attacks and arrangements were 
to be made before that came. So, on the next day, 
(24th,) came Hooker's decisive assault on Lookout 
Mountain. The enemy's whole line (altogether too 
long, as they knew) extended from Lookout Valley 
(holding the top of Lookout) to Chickamauga Valley, 
east of Missionary Ridge. This was an arc of some 
six or seven miles in length, altogether too much for 
Bragg to hold. Around the foot of Lookout, and 
commanding the river, lay Hooker with his force. 
The present object is to take the summit of Lookout, 
and then be able to attack and turn the enemy's left. 
Bragg, in his official Report, 1 says the resistance was 
made by only one brigade ; but also adds, that the 
commander on that field (General Stevenson) had six 
brigades available, and one would think that was 
enough to defend a mountain cliff. But we shall get 
a clearer view by turning to Hooker's account of it. 
He says : 2 

" At this time the enemy's pickets formed a con- 

1 Bragg's Report, dated Dalton, November 30th. 

2 Hooker's Report, dated February 4, 1S64. 



GENERAL HOOKER'S REPORT. 245 

tinuous line along the right bank of Lookout Creek, 
with the reserves in the valleys, while his main force 
was encamped in the hollow, half-way up the slope 
of the mountain. The summit itself was held by 
three brigades of Stevenson's Division, and these 
were comparatively safe, as the only means of access 
from the west, for a distance of twenty miles up the 
valley, was by two or three trails, admitting of the 
passage of but one man at a time, and even these 
trails were held at the top by rebel pickets. For this 
reason no direct attempt was made for the dislodg- 
ment of this force. On the Chattanooga side, which 
is less precipitous, a road of easy grade has been 
made, communicating with the summit by zig-zag 
lines running diagonally up the mountain-side ; and 
it was believed that before our troops should gain 
possession of this, the enemy on the top would evac- 
uate his position, to avoid being cut off from his 
main body, to rejoin which would involve a march of 
twenty or thirty miles. Viewed from whatever point, 
Lookout Mountain, with its high, palisaded crest and 
its steep, ragged, rocky, and deeply furrowed slopes, 
presented an imposing barrier to our advance, and 
when to these natural obstacles were added almost 
interminable well-planned and well-constructed de- 
fenses, held by Americans, the assault became an 
enterprise worthy of the ambition and renown of the 
troops to whom it was intrusted." 

After various arrangements had been made of 
divisions and corps for the general assault, Hooker 
says : " The troops on the mountain rushed on in 
their advance, the right passing directly under the 



246 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

muzzles of the enemy's guns on the summit, climbing 
over ledges and bowlders, uphill and downhill, furi- 
ously driving the enemy from his camp, and from 
position after position. This lasted till twelve o'clock, 
when Geary's advance heroically rounded the peak 
of the mountain." The enemy were driven panic- 
stricken from their positions. The success was unin- 
terrupted and irresistible. Hooker again says : 

" It was now near two o'clock, and our operations 
were arrested by the darkness. The clouds, which 
had hovered over and enveloped the summit of the 
mountain during the morning, and to some extent 
favored our movements, gradually settled into the 
valley, and completely vailed it from our view. In- 
deed, from the moment we rounded the peak of the 
mountain, it was only from the roar of battle, and 
the occasional glimpse our comrades in the valley 
could catch of our lines and standards, that they 
knew of the strife in its progress ; and when, from 
these evidences, our true condition was revealed to 
them, their painful anxiety yielded to transports of 
joy, which only soldiers can feel in the earliest mo- 
ments of dawning victory." 

General Meigs described this assault as " Hooker's 
battle above the clouds," and it had all the elements 
of poetic grandeur. The clouds were seen far below, 
while, from the summit of that hoary mountain, the 
deep boom of cannon came, and occasionally the red 
flash of its fire could be seen from below ; and then 
the clouds, bursting away, disclosed to their friends 
below the heroes of Lookout Mountain. As the 
night came on, the falling fire of musketry could be 



THE ENEMY'S CONDITION HOPELESS. 247 

heard, and away in the valley below, those on the 
mountain could behold the camp-fires of the hostile 
armies stretching far away. 

This movement was decisive of all the coming 
operations. Bragg did not underrate it, although he 
was in hopes to defend successfully what he deemed 
the almost impregnable position of Missionary Ridge. 
He says, in his report : 

" Arriving just before sunset, I found we had lost 
all the advantages of the position. Orders were im- 
mediately given for the ground to be disputed, till we 
could withdraw our forces across Chattanooga Creek, 
and the movement was commenced. This having 
been successfully accomplished, our whole forces 
were concentrated on the Ridge, and extended to 
the right, to meet the movement in that direction." 

Any one can see that, with the command of 
Lookout Mountain and Chattanooga Valley, the en- 
emy's positions on Missionary Ridge must be event- 
ually turned, (as they really were,) and finally fall. 
There might be hard fighting and much loss, but 
Missionary Ridge must fall. And, beyond doubt, it 
was the conviction of this fact which caused the 
moral defection of the rebel army, of which trie rebel 
writers from the field all complain. They said, the 
veteran troops of Bragg did not fight as well as 
usual. From Missionary Ridge, looking upon Look- 
out Mountain, they could see clearly enough the 
hopelessness of their condition. And yet Bragg 
hoped on, and wondered why his troops faltered. 
But still the battle is to be fought, and we must 
return to Missionary Ridge. 



248 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

The position of our army on the morning of the 
25th of November has been very well described by 
Colonel Badeau, and I extract it fr,om his "Military 
History:" 

" The morning of the 25th of November broke 
raw and cold, but the sun shone brilliantly from a 
cloudless sky, and the great battle-field was all dis- 
closed. To the north and east was the railroad junc- 
tion of Chattanooga, which gave the position so 
much of its value ; the roads by which Grant sought 
communication with Burnside, and those along which 
the rebel general was drawing his supplies. Behind 
the National forces, the impetuous river made its 
tortuous way, never for a mile pursuing the same 
course ; while the Cumberland Mountains and Wal- 
den's Ridge formed the massive background. Grant's 
main line faced south and east, toward Missionary 
Ridge, now not a mile away. Lookout Mountain, on 
the National right, bounded the view, Hooker march- 
ing down its sides, and through the valley of Chat- 
tanooga Creek, to Rossville Gap. Sherman had 
gained the extreme left of the Ridge, but immense 
difficulties in his front were yet to overcome ; and, 
all along the crest were the batteries and trenches, 
filled with rebel soldiers, in front of the Army of 
the Cumberland. Bragg's head-quarters were plainly 
visible, on the Ridge, at the center of his now con- 
tracted line, while Grant's own position was on the 
knoll that had been wrested from the rebels the clay 
before. From this point the whole battle-field was 
displayed ; trees, houses, fences, all landmarks in the 
valley had been swept away for camps." 



SHERMAN MO VING. 249 

Grant, Thomas, and the Division officers of the 
Army of the Cumberland stood on Orchard Knoll, 
surveying the field, and ready for the combat. On 
the east side of Missionary Ridge the two Chicka- 
maugas (North and South) ran. As the north end of 
the Ridge was the main point to be attacked, Grant 
had assembled there pontoon bridges, and a steam- 
boat, to transport men and artillery, ready for Sher- 
man's attack. Grant, in his official report, describes 
this operation thus : ' 

" On the night of the 23d of November, Sher- 
man, with three divisions of his army, strengthened 
by Davis's Division of Thomas's Corps, which had 
been stationed along the north bank of the river, 
convenient to where the crossing was to be effected, 
was ready for operations. At an hour sufficiently 
early to secure the south bank of the river, just 
below the mouth of South Chickamauga, by dawn 
of day, the pontoons in the North Chickamauga were 
loaded with thirty armed men each, who floated 
quietly past the enemy's pickets, landed, and cap- 
tured all but one of the guard, twenty in number, 
before the enemy was aware of the presence of a 
foe. The steamboat Dunbar, with a barge in tow, 
after having finished ferrying across the river the 
horses procured from Sherman, with which to move 
Thomas's artillery, was sent up from Chattanooga to 
aid in crossing artillery and troops ; and by daylight 
of the morning of the 24th of November, eight 
thousand men were on the south side of the Ten- 
nessee, and fortified in rifle-trenches. 

1 Grant's Official Report, dated December 23, 1863. 



250 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

"By twelve o'clock, M., the pontoon bridges across 
the Tennessee and the Chickamauga were laid, and 
the remainder of Sherman's forces crossed over, and 
at half-past three, P. M., the whole of the northern 
extremity of Missionary Ridge, to near the railroad 
tunnel, was in Sherman's possession. During the 
night he fortified the position thus secured, making 
it equal, if not superior, in strength to that held by 
the enemy." 

It was the 25th when the brilliant sun and 
cloudless sky looked down on the great battle of 
Missionary Ridge. Sherman's charge was on the 
front of and up Missionary Ridge. Bragg saw the 
danger, and charged heavily upon him, committing 
the error of weakening his center to strengthen his 
left. Grant, who stood on Orchard Knoll, saw the 
weak place, and at once threw in Thomas, with four 
divisions, among which were Sheridan and Baird. 
It was decisive, and henceforward the enemy, broken 
and dispirited, had no more to do than to make the 
best of their retreat. 

Here I leave the scene to be described by Mr. 
Furay, the able and interesting correspondent of the 
" Cincinnati Gazette." After describing the charge 
of Granger and Palmer, Wood and Sheridan, (of 
Thomas's Corps,) he says : 

"Here, according to original orders, our lines 
should have halted ; but the men were no longer con- 
trollable. Baird had carried the rifle-pits in front of 
his position, and the shout of triumph, rousing the 
blood to a very frenzy of enthusiasm, rang all along 



BA TTLE OF MISSIONAR T RID GE. 2 5 I 

the line. Cheering each other forward, the three 
divisions began to climb the ridge, 

1 A fiery mass 
Of living valor rolling on the foe ! 7 

"The whole Ridge blazed with artillery. Direct, 
plunging, and cross-fire, from a hundred pieces of 
cannon, was hurled upon that glorious band of he- 
roes scaling the Ridge, and when they were half-way 
up, a storm of musket-balls was flung into their very 
faces. In reply to the rebel cannon upon the Ridge, 
Fort Wood, Fort Negley, and all our batteries that 
could be placed in position, opened their sublime 
music. 

"The storm of war was now abroad with super- 
natural power, and as each successive volley burst 
from the cloud of smoke which overspread the con- 
tending hosts, it seemed that ten thousand mighty 
echoes wakened from their slumbers, went groaning 
and growling around the mountains, as if resolved to 
shake them from their bases, then rolled away down 
the valleys, growing fainter and fainter, till ex- 
tinguished by echoes of succeeding volleys, as the 
distant roar of the cataract is drowned in the nearer 
thunders of the cloud. 

"And still the Union troops pressed on, scaling 
unwaveringly the sides of Missionary Ridge. The 
blood of their comrades renders their footsteps slip- 
pery ; the toil of the ascent almost takes away their 
breath; the rebel musketry and artillery mow down 
their thinned ranks; but still they press on! Not 
once do they even seem to waver. The color-bearers 
press ahead, and plant their flags far in advance of 



252 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the troops ; and at last, moment of supremest 
triumph! they reach the crest, and rush like an 
avalanche upon the astonished foe. Whole regiments 
throw down their arms and surrender, the rebel artil- 
lerists are bayoneted by their guns, and the cannon, 
which had a moment before been thundering on the 
Union ranks, are now turned about, pouring death 
and terror into the midst of the mass of miserable 
fugitives who are rushing down the eastern slope of 
the Ridge. 

"Almost simultaneously with this immortal charge 
Hooker threw his forces through a gap in the ridge 
upon the Rossville road, and hurled them upon the 
left flank of the enemy, while Johnston charged this 
portion of their line in front. Already demoralized 
by the spectacle upon their right, they offered but a 
feeble resistance, were captured by hundreds, or ran 
away like frightened sheep." 

Such was the battle of Chattanooga, well planned, 
well fought, and entirely decisive in its results. Bragg 
had to fall back at once to Dalton, (Georgia,) and 
never again advanced to the front. The tide of war 
had ebbed back upon the rebels, and all that remained 
was to fight with the desperation of a dying gladiator. 
The drama might have, and did have, some other 
scenes, but they were all tending, as if drawn by the 
Omnipotent hand of Providence, toward one complete, 
perfect, and final catastrophe. No tragedy, drawn out 
by the highest skill of poetic art, could be more per- 
fectly directed toward an inevitable end than had been 
the campaigns of Grant, from the time he assumed 
command at Cairo, till the victory of Chattanooga. 



REBEL VIEW OF OUR VICTOR T. 253 

The true view of Chattanooga and its results was 
taken by the rebels as quickly as by ourselves. The 
"Richmond Dispatch" contained an interesting letter 
from the battle-ground, written at Chickamauga, No- 
vember 25th, midnight, from which I take the follow- 
ing paragraphs : 

" The Confederates have sustained to-day the most 
ignominious defeat of the whole war — a defeat for 
which there is but little excuse or palliation. For 
the first time during our struggle for National inde- 
pendence, our defeat is chargeable to the troops them- 
selves, and not to the blunders or incompetency of 
their leaders. It is difficult to realize how a defeat so 
complete could have occurred on ground so favorable, 
notwithstanding the great disparity in the forces of 
the two hostile armies 

"The day was lost. Hardee still maintained his 
ground ; but no success of the right wing could re- 
store the left to its original position. All men — even 
the bravest — are subject to error and confusion ; but 
to-day some of the Confederates did not fight with 
their accustomed courage. Possibly the contrast be- 
tween the heavy masses of the Federals, as they rolled 
across the valley and up the mountain ridge, and their 
own long and attenuated line, was not of a character 
to encourage them." 

Certainly not. A Spartan would have fought just 
the same against any odds. But an American is not 
a Spartan, and has a moral and an intellectual sense, 
which enables him quickly to perceive and weigh 
results. The rebel soldiers saw and knew well the 
consequences of Hooker's march down the sides of 



254 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Lookout Mountain upon Rossville, and folding up, as 
he moved, their whole rear guard. The time for re- 
treat had come, and the sun of that rebel army set 
forever ! 

It is now necessary for us to take a glance at 
Burnside. Grant, Halleck, and Lincoln had all been 
in anxiety about him. Halleck could get no peace 
of mind, and the burden of his dispatches to Grant 
was — Burnside. He scarcely overrated the import- 
ance of a disaster there ; but, in fact, Burnside was 
in a better condition than he was supposed to be. 
As I have said, he found plenty of beef, and had 
mills to grind flour. But at length he was shut up 
in Knoxville, and when there, was reduced to half 
rations. Longstreet had been, as happened to our 
forces at Chattanooga, delayed. On the 14th of 
November, Burnside was between Knoxville, Kings- 
ton, and London. On the 15 th, he withdrew from 
London, slowly, toward Knoxville, with the view of 
drawing Longstreet on, for, at this time, Long- 
street had not got up to him. The rebel commander 
crossed the Tennessee at London, and came up with 
our men at Campbell's Station, south of Knoxville, 
where there was a smart fight, and Burnside fell 
back to Knoxville ; but Longstreet did not immedi- 
ately follow, and Burnside went to work with great 
vigor and skill in fortifying, and getting troops and 
provisions. In all this he succeeded very well, and 
on the 20th of November he considered the line of 
defenses perfectly secure. He availed himself of all 
possible fortifications, from creeks turned into ditches, 
abatis, and wire-works, up to regular forts. The 



^2c%<>. ^U/'/./'/^k 




256 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT 

principal of these was Fort Sanders, on the north- 
west of the town, which was a commanding position. 
He had a pontoon bridge over the Holston, which 
facilitated his operations, and which the rebels tried 
vainly to break with a floating raft. For some reason, 
not apparent, Longstreet lost his usual sagacity and 
energy, engaging himself in establishing his own 
lines, reconnoissances, and skirmishes. It got to be 
the 27th of November, two days after the battle of 
Chattanooga, when Buckner (detached from Bragg 
most foolishly) reached him, with two brigades. 
Longstreet, however, began to hear of Bragg's defeat, 
and heroically resolved on an assault. Accordingly, 
on the 29th, he stormed Fort Sanders, which was 
very strong, having a deep ditch and high parapet. 
The assault was most furious, and the rebels fought 
with desperate valor, but in vain. In attempting to 
cross the ditch and carry the parapets, they lost 
heavily, and the garrison but little. Longstreet then 
received a dispatch from the rebel President, stating 
that Bragg was defeated, and he should withdraw to 
his assistance. Longstreet, however, continued the 
siege, in hopes of withdrawing a large body from 
Grant, which he did ; for Grant, like Halleck, was 
very anxious about Burnside, and, after the battle of 
Chattanooga, sent Sherman with a large force to his 
relief. Foster was also coming to him from the 
north side, and Grant was in some hope of disorgan- 
izing or capturing Longstreet. But he heard of this 
plan, and, on the 3d of December, put his troops in 
motion, crossed the Holston at Strawberry, and 
transferred his army to the east side, unmolested by 



END OF THE SIEGE OF KNOXVILLE. 257 

Burnside. On the 5th, Sherman had arrived near 
enough to communicate with Burnside. This ended 
the siege of Knoxville, and for the present the cam- 
paign in the West. The grand concentration of 
forces in the American Switzerland had not been in 
vain. The rebel armies had been most signally de- 
feated, Burnside's force saved from what seemed in- 
evitable disaster, and, far more important than either, 
Chattanooga and its mountain defenses made the 
point (Tapptii — the strategic base of future move- 
ments, which should conquer and sever from the 
rebel Confederacy all the broad fields of the South- 
West. The hour of destiny was near at hand, and the 
news from Chattanooga came like the music of glori- 
ous song to the hearts of the people. 

" Widows weeping by their firesides, loyal hearts despondent grown, 
Smile to hear their country's triumph from the gate of heaven blown, 
And the patriot poor shall wonder, in their simple hearts to know, 
In the land above the thunder their embattled champions go." 

22 



258 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



CHAPTER XI. 

PREPARATION. 

GRANT'S PERSONAL CONDUCT — HIS PRESENCE IN BATTLE — 
REJOICINGS OF THE PEOPLE — HONORS TO GRANT — DINNER 
AT ST. LOUIS — HIS CIGAR-CASE — PLANS FOR THE FUTURE — 
SHERMAN'S RAID ON MERIDIAN — RESULTS — AN INCIDENT — 
REBEL BOASTS — GRANT MADE LIEUTENANT-GENERAL — 
GIVEN COMMAND OF ALL FORCES — TAKES COMMAND, AND 
MAKES A NEW PLAN. 

IS it a law of our nature that the more conspicuous, 
useful, or successful any man may become, he is, 
therefore, the more to be assailed by the shafts of 
envy and malignity ? It seems so, and history seems 
scarcely to have found an exception. 1 But even if this 
must be, it seems almost incredible that the defamer 
should select points of attack which to people of com- 
mon-sense must appear almost impossible ; yet, while I 
write these pages, various incredible charges are made 
against Grant. It is not at all necessary to exhibit 
him as a very extraordinary man in order to defend 
him against them. It is only necessary to show that 
he does not fall behind other people in the common 
qualities of human nature. One of these charges I 
will notice here, because he had now arrived at the 

1 At this distance of time we may suppose Washington to have been 
an exception ; but he was not. He was libeled severely by those whom 
his success had injured, and whose schemes he had disappointed. 



GRANT'S PERSONAL CONDUCT. 259 

hight of military fame ; and, one would think, to 
acquire that required some courage in conduct, cool- 
ness in command, and self-possession of mind. These 
are qualities which Grant actually has in a high de- 
gree ; and yet he has been represented as not ex- 
posing himself to danger, and intoxicated on the field 
of battle! I feel ashamed to notice such things, and 
should be ashamed to notice them if they were said 
of General Lee. But some truth on this subject 
ought to be told. I have already related that Grant 
stood with General Smith in the terrible assault on 
the enemy's right at Donelson. I have traced him 
through the day at Shiloh, from sunrise at Savannah, 
through the whole field of battle, to sunset ; leading 
Ammen's Brigade to the defense of the batteries ; 
sleeping till midnight, in the rain, at the foot of a 
tree; and I have also shown him standing with 
Thomas on Orchard Knob, at Chattanooga. This is 
enough ; but I find, in Professor Coppee's " Grant and 
his Campaigns," the statement of a staff officer, which 
is conclusive on this subject. It should be remem- 
bered that a general commanding ought not, except in 
urgent cases, to lead troops himself ; for the loss of a 
commander may occasion the loss of an army, as 
Sidney Johnston's death at Shiloh did very much to 
derange, and ultimately defeat, Beauregard's army. I 
quote here the staff officer's evidence. It was written 
of the battle of Chattanooga : 

" It has been a matter of universal wonder in this 
army that General Grant himself was not killed, and 
that no more accidents occurred to his staff; for the 
General was always in the front, (his staff with him, 



260 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

of course,) and perfectly heedless of the storm of hiss- 
ing* bullets and screaming shell flying around him. 
His apparent want of sensibility does not arise from 
heedlessness, heartlessness, or vain military affectation, 
but from a sense of the responsibility resting upon 
him when in battle. When at Ringgold we rode for 
halt a mile in the face of the enemy, under an inces- 
sant fire of cannon and musketry ; nor did we ride 
fast, but upon an ordinary trot ; and not once do I 
believe did it enter the General's mind that he was in 
danger. I was by his side, and watched him closely. 
In riding that distance we were going to the front, 
and I could see that he was studying the positions 
of the two armies ; and, of course, planning how to 
defeat the enemy, who was here making a most despe- 
rate stand, and was slaughtering our men fearfully." 

After this no more need be said of Grant's per- 
sonal conduct in battle. The part of a great general 
is not to be a cavalier of romantic gallantry, but to 
be the skillful and prudent commander, to whom is 
committed the lives of an army and the interests of 
a country. 

Grant had now reached the culmination of his 
military success; for, even though greater battles 
might be fought, the rebellion ended, the Govern- 
ment restored, and a new career opened to him, it 
was improbable that greater campaigns, or occasion 
for more successful strategy, would ever come to him 
than those of Vicksburg and Chattanooga. Accord- 
ingly the rejoicings of the people, and the honors 
bestowed by the Government, could scarcely be ex- 
ceeded. Illumination lit up the cities, salutes were 



HONORS TO GRANT. 26 1 

fired, and, on the 7th of December, the President 
issued Ris Proclamation for a general thanksgiving 
to God "for this great advancement for the National 
cause." The next day he sent to Grant the following 
brief and characteristic dispatch, which Grant em- 
bodied in orders to the army: 

"Washington, Decembers, 1863. 
"Major-General Grant: 

" Understanding that your lodgment at Chattanooga and Knoxville 

is now secure, I wish to tender you, and all under your command, my 

more than thanks — my profoundest gratitude — for the skill, courage, 

and perseverance with which you and they, over so great difficulties, 

have effected that important object. God bless you all ! 

"A. Lincoln." 

December 17th, a joint resolution of thanks to 
Grant, and to the officers and soldiers of both armies, 
passed both Houses of Congress, which also directed 
that a gold medal, with suitable emblems and de- 
vices, 1 be struck and presented to Major-General 
Grant. Professor Copp6e makes the following enu- 
meration of the honors conferred upon him: 2 

" Learned, religious, temperance societies elected 
him honorary or life member. Cigars, revolvers, and 
gifts of various kinds were showered upon him. To 
none of which does he revert with so much pleasure 
as to a brier-wood cigar-case, made with a pocket- 
knife by a poor soldier, and presented to him with 
feelings of veneration and regard, but with no desire 
for any return. The Legislatures of Ohio and New 

1 On one side was the profile of Grant, surrounded by a wreath of 
laurels, with his name, the year 1863, and a galaxy of stars. On the 
reverse, a figure of Fame, with a trump and a scroll, bearing the names 
of his victories. The motto was : " Proclaim Liberty throughout the 
Land." 

2 "Grant and His Campaigns," page 250. 



262 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

York voted him thanks. Mothers call their children 
after him, and a large generation of little U. S.'s and 
Grants date their birthdays at this time.". 

In the mean time, Grant made a tour to Knox- 
ville, and a general inspection of his troops and posts. 
This led him to a very curious journey, which was 
a visit to Cumberland Gap, and thence to Louisville, 
on horseback, in mid-winter. This was so severe a 
route that he had to walk in some places. On the 
nth he was in Louisville, and on the 13th in Nash- 
ville, ordering on immense bodies of stores for the 
depot at Chattanooga, in readiness for the future 
grand movement from that point. Thence he quickly 
returned to Chattanooga. Soon after, one of his sons 
being dangerously ill at St. Louis, he went there and 
spent a few days among old friends. He had lived 
there in former years. No sooner was " U. S. Grant, 
Chattanooga," plainly written on the hotel book than 
St. Louis went into general commotion. The news 
flew, and speedily an assembly of gentlemen got 
together at short notice, invited him to a public din- 
ner, and, rather strangely for him, it was accepted 
for the 29th of January, 1864. He had been an 
almost unknown citizen there, at one time engaged 
in selling wood from his farm, and it is not surpris- 
ing that he was willing to receive honor from a peo- 
ple among whom he had lived obscure, now that he 
was risen to fame and prosperity. He was received 
by two hundred gentlemen, at the Lindell Hotel, and 
after a complimentary toast, returned the briefest 
possible thanks. The common Council of St. Louis 
presented their thanks in glowing terms ; he was 



EXPEDITION TO MERIDIAN PLANNED. 263 

serenaded at night, and the crowd gathered round 
his door to see the extraordinary man, who, at St. 
Louis, nobody guessed to be a hero, but who had 
now become renowned. To all these demonstrations, 
Grant is said to have exhibited the philosophy of the 
inveterate smoker — who takes refuge from calamities 
in the exhaustless resources of a cigar-case — and 
resolutely smoked away! 

We must now return for a moment to Grant's 
view of the future campaign, and his arrangements 
for some great and important raids. In the middle 
of January he had written to Halleck, that he looked 
upon the next line to be taken to be that from Chat- 
tanooga to Mobile, Montgomery and Atlanta being 
the important intermediate points. 1 He then pro- 
posed to establish large supplies on the Tennessee 
River, so as to be independent of the railroads. This 
is a general idea of what was actually done by Sher- 
man. In order to do this, he had planned an expe- 
dition by Sherman to Meridian, on the east side of 
the State of Mississippi, which was not understood 
by the general public, and was very much misunder- 
stood by the rebels, till they subsequently felt the 
effects of it. Grant had found that the interior of 
Mississippi and Alabama was full of food and provi- 
sions, and he knew that the railroads running through 
the sea-board States in the South, carried thence sup- 
plies, in any quantity, to the rebel armies. Hence, in 
operating from the line of the Mississippi, one of the 

1 It is plain that the march from Atlanta (which was to be a com- 
mon point) to Mobile was by no means as good a plan as that which 
was performed by Sherman to Savannah. 



264 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

advantages would be to cut off and destroy the sup- 
plies and railroads of the South-West. As early as 
December 11th, he wrote to McPherson, in command 
at Vicksburg : " I shall start a cavalry force through 
Mississippi in about two weeks, to clear out the State 
entirely of all rebels." And on the 23d, he wrote 
Halleck that he was collecting a large cavalry force 
at Savannah, to cross the Tennessee, clear out For- 
rest, and destroy, as far as possible, the Mobile and 
Ohio Railroad. It is very obvious, no permanent 
occupation was intended by such a force ; and when, 
subsequently, the rebels rejoiced at what they sup- 
posed the compulsory return from Meridian, and dis- 
appointment of Sherman, they were very much mis- 
taken in the object, and in what was really done, as 
we shall soon see. 

Sherman set out from Vicksburg on February 
the 3d, reached Jackson, February the 6th, and ar- 
rived at Meridian on the 14th. In the mean time, 
however, Smith, with seven thousand cavalry, had set 
out from Memphis, to cooperate with Sherman, but, 
in consequence of delays and difficulties, did not 
meet him. Sherman, however, remained a week at 
Meridian, and, as he said, " made the most complete 
destruction of the railroads ever beheld — south below 
Quitman, east to Cuba Station, twenty miles north 
to Lauderdale Springs, and west all the way back to 
Jackson." ' He thus sums up the destruction made by 
his own and Smith's raids — and it is certainly enough 
to make a perfect success in the objects proposed : 

" The general result of the expedition, including 

' Sherman's dispatch, February 27, 1864. 



AN INCIDENT OF THE WAR. 265 

Smith's and the Yazoo River movements, are about 
as follows: One hundred and fifty miles of railroad, 
sixty-seven bridges, seven thousand feet of trestle, 
twenty locomotives, twenty-eight cars, ten thousand 
bales of cotton, several steam-mills, and over two 
million bushels of corn were destroyed. The rail- 
road destruction is complete and thorough. The 
capture of prisoners exceeds all loss. Upward of 
eight thousand contrabands and refugees came in 
with various columns." 

This was really the greatest "raid" of the war, 
and the stories and incidents told of it were in- 
numerable. The following is told of the Mayor of 
Brandon : 

" Before I had dismounted I was somewhat amused, 
and a little sorry, for a venerable-looking Southern 
gentleman, who came riding with great dignity into 
our camp on a very fine horse. He had scarcely got 
into the yard when three cavalrymen rode up to him 
and demanded his horse ; he refused at first, but 
finally succumbed, dismounted, and one of the soldiers 
got off an old, poor, jaded-looking animal, handed 
the venerable gentleman the reins, mounted the old 
fellow's blooded steed, and all three rode off in a 
hurry. Seeing the old gentleman looking rather dis- 
tressed, I rode up and asked, ' What 's the matter, 
neighbor?' 'Why, sir,' he answered, 'I am the Mayor 
of the town ; I came here in search of General 
McPherson, to make some arrangement by which we 
could be protected, and they have -taken my horse 
from me.' ' Bad enough,' we replied ; ' these Yan- 
kees are terrible fellows, and you had better watch 

23 



266 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

very closely, or they will steal your town before 
morning.' As he turned and rode away on his poor, 
old, worn-out cavalry-horse, looking like the personi- 
fication of grief, seated on a very badly carved monu- 
ment of the equine race, we thought it about the 
best instance of stealing a horse and selling a mare 
(mayor) on record, and was worthy of being kept 
among the archives of the Southern Confederacy." ' 

In this expedition Sherman had subsisted the 
army a month on the country, and done incalculable 
mischief; yet the rebels had so utterly misconceived 
its o*bject, and knew so little of the real results, that, 
on the retreat of Sherman, they boasted of great suc- 
cess ! Nothing could be more ridiculous, or illustrate 
more forcibly the actual condition of the rebels at 
that time than the Order 2 issued by Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral Leonidas Polk. He talked of our defeat and rout, 
and losses of men, arms, and artillery ! This General 
Polk had been a Bishop of the Episcopal Church, but 
having graduated at West Point, thought himself 
justified in exchanging his ecclesiastical robes for 
the epaulets of a general. It is to be hoped that in 
the judgment of Heaven he was found better qualified 
for the first than the last, and that the mantle which 
covers a multitude of sins may be broad enough to 
cover his in the cause of secession. 

The winter had now passed away, and there was 
no more campaigning for Grant till the opening 
of that grand campaign which terminated the war by 
the surrender at Appomattox Court-House. 

1 F. McC, Sixteenth Iowa Volunteers. 

2 Order No. 22, issued from Demopolis, (Ala.,) February 26th. 



GRANT APPOINTED LIEUT.- GENERAL. 267 

We have now arrived at an altogether new stage 
in Grant's career. He had heretofore acted a first 
part in results, but a second part in command. The 
time had come when the Government felt that, if 
Grant could perform a first part in the field, it was 
well to give him a choice of positions and the direc- 
tion of operations. Accordingly, on the 26th of 
February, the very time Sherman returned to Vicks- 
burg, and terminated the last of Grant's minor cam- 
paigns, Congress passed an act creating (or rather 
reviving) the office of Lieutenant-General, and author- 
izing the President to put the person appointed in 
command of the armies of the United States. This 
office had existed, and still existed, in the person of 
Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott. 1 It was originally 
created for General Washington, who commanded the 
army in 1798, when war with France was threatened. 
It was conferred also on Scott, who still survived, but 
was retired from active service. In regard to the 
grades of generals, the rebel government was wiser 
than ours, for it had created two new grades, those 
of General and Lieutenant-General. The commander 
of an army ought to be simply General, and if we had 
Lieutenant-Generals, they would be the commanders 
of corps. 

On the creation of the grade of Lieutenant- 
General, Lincoln immediately appointed Grant, who 
was confirmed by the Senate, on the 2d of March, 
1864. Halleck immediately telegraphed Grant to 
come to Washington, where, on the 8th of March, 

1 General Scott was on the retired list, and was Lieutenant-General 
by brevet. 



268 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

he arrived at Willard's Hotel, almost unknown to 
any one present, as that city had by no means been 
a fashionable resort with him. That renowned place 
is thronged much more by those who want to do with- 
out work than by those who, like Grant, are hard 
workers in the service of their country. 

Grant had come to Washington, but had nothing 
to ask before he came, and nothing to seek after he 
arrived. Mr. Washburn, the representative of the 
Galena District in Congress, makes the following 
statement, as remarkable as it is honorable. Speak- 
ing of Grant, he says : 

"No man, with his consent, has ever mentioned his 
name in connection with any position. I say what I 
know to be true, when I allege that every promotion 
he has received since he first entered the service to 
put down this rebellion, was moved without his knowl- 
edge or consent. And in regard to this very matter 
of Lieutenant-General, after the bill was introduced 
and his name mentioned in connection therewith, he 
wrote me, and admonished me that he had been highly 
honored already by the Government, and did not ash or 
deserve any thing more in the shape of honors or pro- 
motion; and that a success over the enemy was what 
he craved above every tiling else; that he only desired 
to hold such an influence over those tinder his com- 
mand as to use them to the best advantage to secure 
that end!' 

No Roman triumphal procession awaited Grant 
at Washington ; for, except what Grant himself had 
done in his successful campaigns, there was noth- 
ing to triumph over. The whole line of the rebel 



PRESENTED WITH HIS COMMISSION. 269 

defense, east of the Alleghanies, remained intact. Lee 
was encamped on the Rapidan, as calm and auda- 
cious as ever. The Shenandoah Valley remained in 
possession of the rebels. The South-Western Valley, 
down nearly to Knoxville, was theirs also. Their 
great defenses at Mobile, Charleston, and Wilmington 
were still theirs. In fine, notwithstanding the rebels 
had lost the Mississippi and Chattanooga, the Govern- 
ment at Washington, looking over its fruitless and 
yet destructive campaigns on the Potomac, felt a sort 
of mournful joy instead of a hopeful confidence. 
Hence there was no ecstasy on the appearance of 
Grant. The Americans are neither Romans nor 
Frenchmen ; so, when Lee looked at them from the 
Rapidan, with a bold and taunting defiance, and had 
looked at them so for three long years, they got up 
no triumphal procession, as Romans or Frenchmen 
might have done, even for the victories of Grant. 
But Lincoln quietly presented him with his com- 
mission : 

" General Grant, — The nation's appreciation of 
what you have done, and its reliance upon you for 
what remains to be done in the existing great strug- 
gle, are such that you are now presented with this 
commission, constituting you Lieutenant-General in 
the army of the United States. With this high 
honor devolves upon you, also, a corresponding re- 
sponsibility. As the country herein trusts you, so, 
under God, it will sustain you. I scarcely need to 
add that, with what I here speak for the nation, goes 
my own hearty personal concurrence." 



2/0 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

The words of General Grant are few and far 
between ; but now he did reply briefly : 

"Mr. President, — I aceept the commission, with 
gratitude for the high honor conferred. With the 
aid of the noble armies that have fought on so many 
fields for our common country, it will be my earnest 
endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel 
the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving 
on me, and I know that if they are met, it will be 
due to those armies, and, above all, to the favor of 
that Providence which leads both nations and men." 

On the ioth of March, an order assigned the 
new Lieutenant-General to the command of all the 
armies of the United States. To understand the 
prompt manner in which things were done, and the 
readiness with which Grant put himself to the work, 
I transcribe his first order : 

" Head-Quarters of the Armies of the United States, ) 
"Nashville, Term., March 17, 1864. ) 

" In pursuance of the following order of the President : 

"'Executive Mansion, Washington, March 10, 1864. 
"'Under the authority of the act of Congress to appoint to the grade of Lieu- 
tenant-General in the army, of March 1, 1S64, Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant, 
United States Army, is appointed to the command of the armies of the United States. 

"'Abraham Lincoln.' 

I assume command of the armies of the United States. Head-quarters 
will be in the field, and, till further orders, will be with the Army of 
the Potomac. There will be an office head-quarters in Washington, to 
which all official communications will be sent, except those from the 
army where the head-quarters are at the date of their address. 

" U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General." 

"Head-quarters will be in the field? That is the 
first announcement, and it was a joy to hear it ; for 
certain it was that the atmosphere of Washington 
was exceedingly uncongenial to genius in war. Stan- 



HEAD-QUARTERS IN THE FIELD. 27 T 

ton was energetic ; Lincoln had the fervor of warlike 
patriotism ; but there was one dark phantom rose to 
their minds, and was drawn like a pall over the faces 
of the generals — fear for Washington! In a moral 
and political sense, this was just. For a long period 
of the war we had a difficult task to prevent the in- 
terference of England and France ; and, undoubtedly, 
if Washington was taken by the rebels, (although of 
little importance in a military point of view,) it would 
have a disastrous moral and political effect. But now 
Grant has a new scheme of tactics. He will defend 
Washington in the field. Head-quarters in the field — 
that means hard fighting; it means continuous and 
fearful blows ; and if the enemy can not meet them, 
they will be smashed ; that is all of it, and there is 
no more to be thought of. But these blows are not 
to fall only on Lee's Virginia Army; they are to fall 
at all points where there is an enemy's army, or forti- 
fication. We had come to the time when we really 
had greatly superior forces, and the great point of 
generalship was to make superior forces available. 
Grant set about it in the true way. First, we must 
oppose superior armies to the enemy's armies; and, 
secondly, we must organize cooperative armies against 
their fortresses and commercial points ; so that while 
our armies were breaking up their armies, our coop- 
erative forces should cut off or destroy all the re- 
sources by which new armies might be formed. 
While we had strong enough armies in the field, we 
should also attack other important points ; so that 
when the final blow was struck, every thing would be 
ended. This is the task Grant now set himself to 



272 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

perform ; and as we trace his career on the broad 
theater of events, we must recollect that he is now to 
be responsible for the whole conduct of the war, and 
not for single armies or departments. It had become 
obvious to all minds that we must have some general 
and unitized plan ; and this could only be done with 
one commander. I have already said there is no evi- 
dence that, up to this time, the Government had any 
general plan of the war. No general in one depart- 
ment could form one, and there is no evidence that 
any was ever formed at Washington. This is a re- 
markable feature of the war, and one which military 
critics should hereafter carefully consider. It was 
certainly by no means creditable to the statesman- 
ship of the country. 



ARMY OF THE RAPPAHANNOCK. 273 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE WILDERNESS. 

THE GENERAL PLAN OF THE CAMPAIGN — ORGANIZATION OF THE 
GRAND ARMY — LEE'S POSITION — HUNDRED DAYS' MEN — 
OFFER OF THE GOVERNORS — MEADE'S ADDRESS — GRAND 
ARMY CROSSES THE RAPIDAN — THE WILDERNESS — LINE 
OF BATTLE — TWO DAYS' FIGHT IN THE WILDERNESS — LEE'S 
DISPATCHES — CAN NOT SUCCEED, AND MARCHES BY THE 
RIGHT FLANK — GRANT'S GENERALSHIP — HIS POSITION IN 
THE BATTLE. 

•' Down by the rushing Rapidan, hark ! how the muskets crack ! 
The battle-smoke rolls up so thick, the very heavens are black ! 
No blossom-scented winds are there, no drops of silver rain ; 
The air is thick with sulphurous heat, and filled with moans of pain, 

O ! let us not forget them — our brave, unselfish boys — 

Who have given up their loved ones, their happy household joys, 

And stand to-night in rank and file, determined to a man, 

To triumph over treason, down by the Rapidan ! 

And let our hearts be hopeful ; our faith, unwavering, strong ; 
Right must be all victorious when battling with the Wrong. 
Let us bear up our heroes' hands ! Pray, every soul that can, 
' God bless our boys who fight to-night, down by the Rapidan !' " l 

THE war clouds were now gathering from every 
point of the horizon ; but most they gathered 
round the army on the Rappahannock. This army 
lay, during the winter, near the Rapidan, and was 
commanded by General George Gordon Meade — an 

1 " Rebellion Record," Vol. VIII— last page. 



274 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

officer to whom the country owes a profound debt of 
gratitude, not only for the greatest successes, but for 
the most constant, earnest, and devoted services to 
his country. Grant, with good sense and sound judg- 
ment, left him in the immediate command of the 
grand army in its march on Richmond. A knowl- 
edge of men, and especially of military men, is one 
of Grant's characteristics, and we shall see that his 
selections for the staff of the army were admirable ; 
but we have not got quite to that point. We must 
first take a glance at the general situation, in order 
to see where the enemy are, what we have done, and 
what we mean to do. 

What was beyond the Mississippi — the rebel 
army under Kirby Smith, and the Union army under 
Banks, we may disregard ; for neither of them had 
any important bearing on the war. If Banks had 
been entirely successful in Louisiana, by capturing 
Shreveport, it would have been of no practical use to 
us ; and, to the rebels, their armies in Louisiana and 
Texas were entirely useless. The points in the rebel 
defenses we were to reach were these : The armies 
of Lee, in Virginia, of Johnston, in Georgia, and the 
cities of Mobile, Wilmington, Savannah, and Charles- 
ton, together with the supplies in the South-West 
and the Shenandoah Valley. Having these objects 
before us, it is easy to comprehend the general 
scheme of Grant's campaign. It was, i. To find and 
crush the rebel armies. Lee's Army of Virginia was 
to be attacked, and crushed by as many blows as 
might be necessary, by the army of General Meade, 
with which Grant went himself. Johnston's army was 



GENERAL PLAN OF THE CAMPAIGN. 27$ 

to be crushed in the same way by Sherman, whose 
troops and supplies were now collecting at Chatta- 
nooga, and who, when arrived at Atlanta, was to move 
against Mobile, Savannah, or Augusta, as seemed most 
judicious to the commander. 2. The ports of Wil- 
mington, Charleston, etc., were to be attacked by sub- 
sidiary forces ; and, in fine, by attacks on the interior 
of the rebel States, all their forces were to be em- 
ployed in such a manner that no reinforcements could 
be spared to Lee and Johnston. 3. The Shenandoah 
Valley was to be occupied, so that the supplies Lee's 
army was constantly drawing from thence should be 
cut off. In addition to these general plans there 
were certain auxiliary expeditions to be made. Early 
in April, Grant had informed Butler of the plan of the 
campaign, and directed him to move on to the south 
side of the James, seize City Point, and close on Rich- 
mond, as far as he could, with the view to cooperate 
with Grant, when he should drive back Lee, and 
finally unite with him on the south side of the James. 
A large expedition, under General Crook, was also to 
move for the Kanawha, in order to cut communi- 
cations in the Valley of Virginia. General Sigel also 
had a Corps in the Shenandoah Valley. All these 
movements come, when we consider them together, 
to two points: 1st. To destroy the enemy's armies; 
and, 2d, by lateral movements, to prevent the possi- 
bility of reenforcing and supplying them. I shall now 
confine myself to the army of Grant in the march on 
Richmond, and to the part he performed. It must be 
left to other writers, in other times, to present a com- 
plete and critical history of the grand transactions, 



276 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

military and civil, which terminated the war of the 
rebellion. 

In the conflict with Lee — so fierce, bloody, and 
protracted — upon which Grant was now about to 
enter, the first thing we must notice is the strength 
and the organization of the forces. I shall not relate 
the military details of the campaign, for they would 
only confuse the unmilitary reader, and are unneces- 
sary to a correct view of Grant's acts, character, or 
generalship. It is, however, necessary for us to dis- 
tinguish between the several Corps of the Army, their 
line of march, and principal actions, in order to see 
clearly the strategy which he adopted, and the degree 
of its success. 

The Army of the Potomac — I should say more 
properly the Army of Richmond — was reorganized, 
at the close of March, in the following manner : 

Second Corps, commanded by General Winfield 
Scott Hancock, of the infantry, who had exhibited 
great gallantry and good conduct in previous cam- 
paigns with the Army of the Potomac. This corps 
had four divisions, commanded by Barlow, Gibbon, 
Bisney, and Barr. 

Fifth Corps, commanded by Gouvernuer K. War- 
ren, originally an officer of engineers, promoted for 
his valor and skill. This corps also had four divi- 
sions, commanded by Wadsworth, Crawford, Robin- 
son, and Griffin. 

Sixth Corps, commanded by Major-General John 
Sedgwick, a very popular officer, originally of the 
artillery. This corps had three divisions, commanded 
by II. G. Wright, Getty, and Prince. 



ORGANIZATION OF THE GRAND ARMY. 277 

The Cavalry Corps was commanded by General 
Philip H. Sheridan, originally an officer of regular 
infantry, and whose dashing qualities had made him 
distinguished at Chattanooga and various other points. 
The Park of Artillery was under the general 
direction of General Henry J. Hunt, and the immedi- 
ate command of Colonel H. S. Benton. 

The Engineer troops and pontoons were under 
the command of Major J. C. Duane, of the engineers. 

The Quarter-Master's Department was under 
the command of General Rufus Ingals. 

The Staff Officers were principally General 
John A. Rawlins, Chief; Colonel Bower, Adjutant- 
General ; Colonel Duff, Inspector-General ; Colonel 
Badeau, Secretary, with numerous aids, adjutants, 
quarter-masters, and inspectors. 

The Ninth Corps, commanded by General Am- 
brose E. Burnside, consisted chiefly of colored troops, 
and had been recruiting and drilling at Annapolis, 
but in the latter part of April was suddenly marched 
to join the Army of Meade, at Culpepper. The 
entire aggregate of available men in the Army of 
the Potomac on the 1st of May, 1864, was (120,384) 
one hundred and twenty thousand three hundred and 
eighty-four men, 1 the largest army which had ever 
been collected at one spot in the United States. It 
is said by some writers that Lee's Army, which lay 
near Orange Court-House, was but (52,000) fifty-two 
thousand men. This may have been the case in the 
winter, but was evidently incorrect at this period, 
for, in the next thirty days, Lee lost twenty thousand 

1 Secretary of War's Report, November, 1865. 



278 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

men, disabled in some way, and yet was able to fight 
a battle with Grant. History should not attempt to 
contradict probabilities. The fact was, Lee was con- 
tinually reenforced from the day the campaign opened 
till his communications with the South were mainly 
cut off, and the South, exhausted, refused to furnish 
men. We had a great superiority of forces, then 
numbering (in all quarters) 622,000 availables, 1 and 
the rebels (in all) over 350,00a 2 But to make this 
superiority available was the very thing in .which 
Grant's skill and administrative ability was to be 
exercised. It was for this he was made commander 
of the army, and in this he achieved the successes 
which terminated the war. 

Here we must note one of those outbursts of 
patriotism which signalized our arms at that time, 
and, in fact, made one of the glorious features in the 
conduct of the loyal people, and one of the most 
successful instruments in putting down the rebellion. 
We made many errors and blunders in our practical 
conduct of the war, but we made none of the heart. 
The heart of the loyal people beat fervently, warmly, 
heroically for their country. From first to last there 
was no faintness of the heart, no yielding of the 
mind, no cessation of hope and faith. Knowing this, 
and relying upon it, the Governors of Ohio, Indiana, 

1 This is the number of availables on the Returns of the Army, May 
1, 1864. 

2 The rebel army was much underrated, but it was not all available 
to them. For example, we held at that time 88,000 prisoners; and 
there were 70,000 men under Kirby Smith and Taylor, which were 
entirely useless to them. Under Lee and Johnston, at Mobile, Charles- 
ton, Wilmington, etc., were about 200,000 men. 



HUNDRED DATS' MEN 279 

Illinois, and Iowa offered the Government one hund- 
red thousand men for one hundred days, independ- 
ent of, and not to be counted in, any regular calls or 
drafts made by the President. The object of this 
was to supply the place of veterans sent to Grant's 
army, and taken from garrisons, posts, lines, etc., 
where the veterans had been employed. Many of 
the troops with Grant were raw troops, and it was 
very important not only that he should have enough 
men, but that he should have those experienced and 
inured to war. If Lee's army was inferior in num- 
bers, it was composed of veteran troops, who would 
not be easily vanquished, even with twice their num- 
bers of raw men. The tremendous magnitude of the 
campaign was well known to the patriotic Governors 
of the States, and the danger of relying wholly on 
raw troops equally obvious. To avoid this danger, 
the Governors of Western States offered to relieve 
thousands of veterans in posts and garrisons by vol- 
unteers from their States. Accordingly, a proposi- 
tion to furnish hundred days' men for this purpose 
was made by Governors Brough, of Ohio, Morton, of 
Indiana, Yates, of Illinois, and Stone, of Iowa, and 
was promptly accepted by President Lincoln. Ohio 
had at that time an enrolled militia, called the " Na- 
tional Guard," composed of nearly forty regiments. 
Governor Brough immediately called these into the 
field, and Ohio actually furnished the Government 36,- 
000 of these men. The Governors of Indiana, Illinois, 
and Iowa called for volunteers, and many thousands 
were furnished, though I have no account of the 
whole number. No more patriotic act was done 



2 80 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

during the war than this of the hundred days' men. 
Many of them, like Putnam in the Revolution, left 
their plows in the field, and their wives to till the 
farm. These men went right to the front, and some 
of the regiments were engaged in battle, and suffered 
severely. Thus it was that Grant's army was filled 
up and moved on to its conquests — brave men in 
reserve, and self-sacrificing women at home. The 
march of armies and the crash of battle-fields I can 
relate, but where shall I find the pen to record these 
triumphs of the heart, these heroic emotions, which 
kindled souls with the love of country, and fired 
them with energy for successful achievement ? 

I must leave these scenes for the field down on 
the Rapidan. Head-quarters is in the field. The 
army is organized, and, on the 3d of May, General 
Meade issued a stirring address to the soldiers. A 
part of his address is worthy to be remembered : 

" Soldiers ! The eyes of the whole country are 
looking with anxious hope to the blow you are about 
to strike in the most sacred cause that ever called 
men to arms. Remember your homes, your wives, 
and children, and bear in mind that the sooner your 
enemies are overcome, the sooner you will be returned 
to enjoy the benefits and blessings of peace. Bear 
with patience the hardships and sacrifices you will be 
called upon to endure. Have confidence in your 
officers, and in each other. 

" Keep your ranks, on the march and on the 
battle-field, and let each man earnestly implore God's 
blessing, and endeavor by his thoughts and actions 
to render himself worthy of the favor he seeks. With 



THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 28 1 

clear conscience and strong arms, actuated by a high 
sense of duty, righting to preserve the Government 
and the institutions handed down to us by our fore- 
fathers, if true to ourselves, victory, under God's bless- 
ing, must and will attend our efforts." 

The blessing of God did attend them ! For, though 
they were to march where McClellan had marched in 
vain — where Burnside had lost his thousands — and 
where Hooker, after a brilliant advance, had re- 
treated — where Lee had made his bold advances on 
the capital of the country — where, in every field, was 
buried the dead, and where thousands of his own 
number were soon again to wet with their blood 
those fatal fields — yet, with all this before them, they 
marched with the confidence of hope to the music 
of victory ! Grant was their leader, the country their 
supporter, and God, our all, was looking down upon 
them, and from the mid-heaven inspiring them with 
the smiles of His favor, and pointing to the unfading 
star of their glorious destiny! The Army of the Po- 
tomac was no more to be beaten — no more to re- 
treat — no more to despond! 

So rose the sun on the morning of the 3d upon 
the Army of the Potomac, which, by midnight, was to 
be crossing the Rapidan : 

M O ! let us not forget them — our brave, unselfish boys — 
Who have given up their loved ones, their happy household joys, 
And stand to-night in rank and file, determined to a man, 
To triumph over treason, down by the Rapidan !" 

Before we cross the river, let us take a glance at 
the position of the rebel army under Lee. Lee had 
been bivouacked all winter near Orange Court-House, 

24 



282 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

and had made an intrenched camp of nearly twenty 
miles in length, to cover the crossings of the Rapidan. 

His army, like Grant's, was divided into three main 
corps, commanded by Ewell, Hill, and Longstreet, 
with a Cavalry Corps, under the command of General 
J. E. B. Stuart. Lee's army lay on each side of Or- 
ange Court-House, on the left, (as we look north to 
the Rapidan,) to Gordonsville, near which Long- 
street's Corps lay, and on the right to Mine Run, 
(a creek emptying into the Rapidan,) about twelve 
miles from Orange Court-House. Stuart's Cavalry 
lay on the south side of the river, and Ewell and 
Hill's, in succession, after him. The general idea of 
Lee was to defend the line of the Rapidan, by in- 
trench ments extending from near the fords on the 
right, through and beyond Orange Court-House, in 
front of the Rapidan. It was, unquestionably, a well- 
chosen position ; but he could not guard the whole 
line, from Fredericksburg to the mountains, and, 
therefore, there must be an opportunity to cross the 
Rapidan, either to the right or to the left. Grant 
chose to Av/7/ Lee's army (if he could) by Lee's 
right — that is, between Lee and Fredericksburg. If 
he could not succeed fully in this, then he intended 
pushing him by his own left (Lee's right) flank, in 
the oblique movement, which, if Lee could not drive 
him back, would result in making Lee retreat on a 
curve, and carry Grant round him to the East, in a 
more extended curve, till Grant swung round Rich- 
mond on to the James. As this actually happened) it 
is well for us to note the plan in advance. The 
head-quarters of the army leaves Culpepper, ten miles 



"THE WILDERNESS." 283 

north of the Rapidan, crosses that river, proceeds to 
Spottsylvania ; then eastwardly, crossing the Matta- 
pony ; then to the Pamunkey, at Hanover ; then to 
Mechanicsville ; then round Richmond to the James. 
An examination of any common map will show that 
this march was a curve, at first turning slowly, and 
then, at Richmond, narrowing more rapidly. It is 
very evident that if Grant could have beaten Lee in 
a great battle, Lee must have gone at once into Rich- 
mond, and been besieged, terminating the campaign 
much more speedily. On the other hand, if Lee could 
have beaten Grant, he would, of course, have arrested 
the campaign there, as it had been arrested in the case 
of Hooker and Burnside. But he could not do this, 
and the most he could do was to fight his way slowly 
back to Richmond. Let us see how he was driven 
back. To the right of Lee's defenses, at Mine Run, 
(looking north,) and about six miles from each other, 
were Germania and Ely's Fords, over the Rapidan. 
The road from Culpepper, through Stevensburg, led 
over Germania Ford ; east of that, a road branched 
off, through Richardsville, to Ely's Ford. These were 
the roads through which Grant's army passed the 
Rapidan. Nearly opposite these fords (south) was a 
singular district of country, called the "Wilderness." 
As this little district has become memorable, and 
might, with great propriety, be called " the dark and 
bloody ground," I give here a brief description of it, 
from the pen of Professor Coppee :" ' 

" The Wilderness is a broken table-land, covered 
over with dense undergrowth, with but few clearings, 

1 " Grant and His Campaigns," page 288. 



284 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

in which the rebels could conceal themselves, which 
proved a formidable obstacle to our advance. It was 
intersected by numerous cross roads, generally nar- 
row, and bounded on either side by a dense growth 
of low-limbed and scraggy pines, stiff and bristling 
chincapins and scrub oaks. The undergrowth was 
principally of hazel. There were many deep ravines, 
but not sufficiently precipitous to offer us much 
trouble on that account, the principal difficulty being 
in the almost impenetrable undergrowth, which would 
impede our advance in line of battle, and render the 
artillery almost useless. Besides the cross roads 
mentioned, numerous narrow wood roads pass through 
the Wilderness in all directions." 

Such was the " Wilderness," and in the midst of 
it stood the " Wilderness tavern," and to the right 
of that, some six miles toward Fredericksburg, was 
the now noted " Chancellorsville." At the Wilder- 
ness tavern two roads, the "plank road" and the 
u turnpike road " from Orange to Fredericksburg, in- 
tersected. It will be easy to find these localities on 
a tolerable map, and thus the movement of the sev- 
eral corps of our army will be understood. 

At night, on the 3d of May, two cavalry divi- 
sions moved down the roads from Culpepper (one on 
each) to Germania and Ely's Fords. They carried 
pontoon trains and engineers with them, laid the 
bridges, and a division of cavalry moved at once to 
the Wilderness tavern and Chancellorsville without 
opposition. Now the reader sees that the Wilder- 
ness tavern was an important strategic point, for 
there the two roads from Orange met, and thence 



CROSSING THE RAPID AN. 285 

went a branch-road to Spottsylvania. It was Grant's 
intention and wish to gain the Wilderness roads, 
and secure them in advance of Lee. In that case, 
he would have turned Lee entirely, if not cut him 
off from Richmond ; but that he was not destined 
to do entirely, though enough of it to compel Lee 
to oblique, and pursue a curve to Richmond. The 
cavalry, as I said, secured the pontoons, and marched 
to the Wilderness without opposition. At three, 
A. M., the Second Corps (Hancock's) moved by 
Stevensburg and Richardsville to Ely's Ford. At 
the same time the Fifth Corps (Warren's) marched 
through Stevensburg to Germania Ford. This was 
closely followed by the Sixth Corps, (Sedgwick's.) 
During the day the whole army had crossed the 
Rapidan, the Second Corps encamping on the old 
battle-field of Chancellorsville, the Fifth at the Wil- 
derness tavern, and the Sixth from the tavern to 
Germania Ford. The Ninth Corps (Burnside's) did 
not cross, but followed to the Rapidan, and remained 
as a reserve. So far the movement was entirely suc- 
cessful, and if Lee continued on the defensive, his 
communications were likely to be cut off. This 
would not do, and he commenced a rapid movement 
to prevent it. Lee immediately left his position and 
intrenchments behind him, moving Ewell on the old 
turnpike and Hill on the plank road. 1 Our line was 
formed, it will be seen, on several miles, extending 
from Chancellorsville by the Wilderness tavern to 
the Orange road and Germania Ford. The attack 
really came from us ; for when Ewell came up on the 

'Lee's dispatch, May 5, 1864. 



286 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Orange turnpike, Warren (Fifth Corps) was ordered 
to halt and attack the enemy's front furiously, when 
he could find it, which he did at twelve o'clock (on 
the 5th.) Having got into line, he attacked Ewell 
with the divisions of Griffin and Wadsworth. At 
first, he drove back Ewell, but the Sixth Corps was 
not up in time, and the left of Warren was exposed, 
because Hancock had not got in from Chancellors- 
ville. Then Hill's Corps of the enemy came down 
on the plank road, and there was great danger for 
Warren, till Hancock's Corps came in and checked 
the enemy's attack. And so the battle went on in 
the afternoon of the 5 th, furious and bloody, on 
broken ground and thick undergrowth, where little 
artillery could be used, and where the enemy, know- 
ing the ground, had greatly the advantage. It was a 
bloody day, and two of the most signalized men of 
our army fell on that field — Wadsworth and Hays. 
What Lee thought of that day he very candidly 
expressed in his dispatch of the 5th. He says : " By 
the blessing of God, we maintained our position 
against every effort till night, when the combat 
closed. We have to mourn the loss of many brave 
officers and men." 

Maintained his position ! Yes, and had it been a 
contest for a battle-field, this would have been very 
well, but to do no more in the Wilderness was fatal. 
The very thing in question was, Whether we could 
cross the Rapidan and stay there? But we are not 
through. To-morrow is to be bloodier yet, and we 
shall see whether Lee can stand there. 

On the night of the 5th Grant saw clearly that the 



BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS, 287 

great shock of the battle would be on Hancock, who, 
with the Second Corps, had come up from Chancel- 
lors ville to the Wilderness tavern, as he was ordered 
by Grant, not a minute too soon, for Hill was com- 
ing down on that vital point, and Longstreet follow- 
ing him. Still there was, on the day before, a gap 
there, through which the enemy at one time pene- 
trated, and, with desperate exertions, were driven 
back. Now we are, on the night of the 5th, pre- 
paring for the battle of the 6th. Grant had no idea 
of standing on the defensive. His word was, always, 
attack, attack! And attack it must be, at five o'clock 
in the morning. As I said, Hancock could not fill 
the whole space to Warren, and there Grant knew 
the storm was coming. So Burnside now crossed 
the river, and took post in the gap, between the 
Second and Fifth Corps, and between the plank 
road and the turnpike, which, as I have said, con- 
verged till they intersected at the Wilderness tavern. 
Getty's Division, of the Sixth Corps, and Wads- 
worth's, of the Fifth, were near the same place, to 
reen force and strengthen Hancock's right, for there 
was to be the struggle. Ewell was still in front of 
Warren and Sedgwick, and Longstreet had come up 
to the help of Hill. Hancock began, at five o'clock, 
with a furious attack on Hill, and drove him back in 
some confusion ; but just then Longstreet came up, 
with the best corps of Lee's army, and, driving Han- 
cock back, threatens the left of our army with being 
turned and driven back on the river. But Lee is no 
Sidney Johnston, nor is this the field of Shiloh. Lee, 
like Beauregard, is an engineer officer, and, by the 



288 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

very element which makes him a good engineer, 
loses that tact in strategy, and that brilliancy of 
movement, which is necessary to the success of a 
great battle. This idea of pouring the strength of 
his army on Hancock's left is a good one ; but, after 
succeeding for a moment, he is successfully resisted 
by the very divisions (Wadsworth's and Getty's) 
which Grant had provided for that purpose. Wads- 
worth, a noble spirit, is killed, but the work is done, 
nobly done, and Hill is brought to a stand, as if by a 
rampart of rocks. Here the battle, for a time, stops. 
Like Beauregard, on the field of Shiloh, Lee takes 
time to think, and gather up his strength. This is 
good engineering, but bad tactics. At four o'clock 
he has massed his troops, and is ready again, and it 
is evident the main struggle is again to be with Han- 
cock. Grant, with the same accurate sagacity and 
true military discernment, had seen the whole of it, 
and threw in, at the weak point, between Hancock 
and Warren, a large part of Burnside's Ninth Corps, 
and thus was prepared. Hill and Longstreet came 
down, with heavy lines, and all their available men. 
They came as with the shock of the tornado. It 
seemed as if every thing would be swept away, and, 
for a moment, it was so. Two whole divisions of 
Hancock were driven back ; but two other divisions 
came in, and with such force as made the rebel lines 
shake and retreat. It is said that at this time Lee 
rushed forward, and was about to head the charge of 
a brigade himself, but was restrained by his officers. 
If true, as it may be, it shows that Lee thoroughly 
comprehended that to drive back Hancock and seize 



BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS. 289 

that position was essential to his success in the battle 
and the campaign. But let us go on. His attack 
failed, and all the military objects of the battle were 
to him lost. In the mean time other attacks were 
made by Ewell, on our right, which were apparently 
more successful, but which, in no event, could be de- 
cisive. Lee and Grant were both too good generals 
to rely much on the event of these collateral affairs. 
General Gordon, toward night, moved from the ene- 
my's left, outflanked our right, made a furious charge, 
captured two generals, and the greater part of two 
brigades, which afforded Lee an opportunity to boast 
a little, but which he, of all men, knew best was a 
worthless success. Sedgwick, of the Sixth Corps, 
soon drove Gordon back, and the battle of the Wil- 
derness was, to all practical intents, closed. Night 
closed around the weary and exhausted armies. They 
slept on one of the bloodiest fields America had ever 
seen. 1 In that dark and tangled wilderness, how 
many slept the sleep of death ! how many groaned in 
anguish ! how many tired sleepers, in dreams, looked 
through those shadows of the night, to the far-off 
home they were to see no more! For again and 
again the fields were to be crimsoned, and again the 
brave were to fall. In dreams only will thousands 
of the wearied sleepers see their homes again. 

" Our bugles sang truce, for the night-cloud had lowered, 
And the sentinel stars set their watch in the sky ; 

1 The losses in the battles of the Wilderness were estimated, at the 
time, at 15,000 ; but they were much more, and probably the greatest in 
any one conflict of the war. In the final reports of the War Depart- 
ment the return of losses is thus given, including all to the I2th of 
May: Killed, 3,288 ; wounded, 19,278; missing, 6,844. 

25 



200 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT* 

And thousands had sunk on the ground overpowered— 
weary to sleep, and the wounded to die. 

• • • • * 

At dead of the night a sweet vision I saw, 

And thrice ere the morning I dreamt it again. 

Methought from the battle-field's dreadful array, 

Far, lar I had roamed on a desolate track : 
'1 was autumn — and sunshine arose on the way 

To the home of my fathers, that welcomed me back. 

Stay, stay with us ! rest, thou art weary and worn ; 

And fain was their war-broken soldier to stay ; 
But sorrow returned with the dawning of morn, 

And the voice in my dreaming ear melted away." * 

The morn returned but to renew the fight. The 
orders were still to advance ; but soon it is apparent 
that Lee wants no more fight there. He could not 
drive Grant away, and knows that we are on the 
road to Richmond. So he is moving off to the right 
flank in his retreat by curve lines. On the 8th, his 
dispatch to Richmond was : " The enemy have aban- 
doned their position, and are marching toward Fred- 
ericksburg. I am moving on the right flank." 2 Yes, 
wo arc in Fredericksburg; that is no longer an ob- 
jective point, and General Lee will keep moving by 
his right flank for a good while. He will be fond of 
curvilinear movements! 

But where was Grant in this grand fight? How 
did he carry himself? What he did as General we 
know. Not one of his movements failed. Every 
corps, division, and regiment went into its place. 
The Army of the Potomac was no more to know 
retreat. Now it had a general, and Lee learned the 

1 " Soldier's Dream," by Campbell. 

3 Lee's dispatch to Seddon, May 8, 1864. 



THE BATTLE GAINED BT GRANT. 29 1 

greatest lesson he ever learned. McClellan, and 
Hooker, and Burnside he knew how to deal with, 
and, notwithstanding Gettysburg, he stood in no 
great awe of Meade. But now we may imagine he 
did not feel quite sure of the future. Dark clouds 
gathered round him. a The twenty years' war in Vir- 
ginia, which the short-sighted Davis had predicted, 
was evidently drawing rapidly to a close. Armies, 
States, rebellions, all want mind as well as men. 
Mind moves them, and mind alone can give them 
success. Sidney Johnston was killed at Shiloh ; the 
dashing Jackson was dead ; and here is Longstreet, 
the best of corps commanders, wounded in the Wil- 
derness, so that he can no longer head the battle. 
The position of Hancock in the Wilderness is not 
carried, and here is Lee moving to the right flank ! 
How delusive to the great public is the battle-field ! 
Here is Lee, dispatching to Richmond that he has 
taken thousands of prisoners. Here is a critic on 
Grant, denouncing him for the slaughter of men ; 
and here is another critic saying it is a drawn battle. 
But look again. Why are our troops in Fredericks- 
burg ? Why is Grant in full march for Spottsyl- 
vania ? and why is Lee moving by the right flank ? 
The battle is gained ; but where was Grant ? The 
head-quarters of General Grant, says Coppee, were in 
the rear of the center, near the plank road, and most 
of the time he was on a piny knoll with Meade, in 
the rear of Warren. " Those who observed him 
during the actions were struck with his unpretending 
appearance and his imperturbable manner. Neither 
danger nor responsibility seemed to affect him ; but 



292 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

he seemed at times Inst in thought, and occasionally, 
on the receipt of information, would mount his horse 
and gallop off to the point where he was needed, to 
return with equal speed to his post of observation." 1 
Such was Grant in the Wilderness — the same 
firm, sagacious, calm, unpretending, and imperturba- 
ble being that he had been at Donelson, at Shiloh, 
and at Vicksburg. This sort of character is not 
easily understood at first, because we are continually 
looking out for something extraordinary, something 
uncommon, brilliant, and striking in a great com- 
mander. But when the people do understand such a 
character, they soon learn to regard it with con- 
fidence, and to admire it the more for its uncon- 
scious simplicity. 

1 Coppee's " Grant and His Campaigns," page 301. 




]VTAI» OF" 



THE WILDERNESS. 



2 4 L/F-fi OF GENERAL GRANT, 



CHAPTER XIII. 

ON TO RICHMOND. 

"ON TO RICHMOND" — OUT OF THE WILDERNESS — BATTLE OF 
SPOTTSYLVANIA — "I PROPOSE TO FIGHT IT OUT ON THIS 
LINE, IF IT TAKES ALL SUMMER" — AT NORTH ANNA — CROSS- 
ING THE PAMUNKEY — BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR — CROSSING 
THE JAMES — RAIDS — THE ARMY RESTS. 

OF all our blunders in the war, (and we made 
many,) "On to Richmond" had been the great- 
est ; because Richmond, taken in the early period of 
the war, would have been of no practical advantage. 
It would have given us 6clat, but not success. Let 
the reader suppose General Lee to have been driven 
from Richmond into Lynchburg — would he not have 
been as defensible there as in Richmond? He would 
have lost some advantage in defending the sea-board, 
but he would have gained more in defending the 
Valley of Virginia, and covering the approaches to 
Chattanooga. But we already had Norfolk, securing 
Chesapeake Bay. Whatever opinions may be formed 
of that matter, it is certain that we had lost three 
years, and nearly three armies, in a useless attack on 
the defenses of Richmond. The critics who com- 
plain of the losses sustained by Grant's army should 
remember this, and consider whether it was not better 
to finish the work in one vigorous campaign, however 



GENERAL SEDGWICK KILLED. 29$ 

bloody, than to take three years, and slaughter three 



armies 



But here we are moving out of the Wilderness, (and 
we shall all be glad to get out,) and we are not going 
to Fredericksburg, for we have got Fredericksburg. 
We are obliquing to Lee's right. He was not quick 
enough to get in front of us ; and if he had got there, 
and could have successfully resisted us, we should 
have turned his left. He was not strong enough to 
prevent the movement, which was inevitable. On the 
8th our army is on the road to Spottsylvania — Second, 
Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth Corps — all of them, with the 
cavalry and trains. Two of our corps took the road 
to Todd's tavern, half a dozen miles west of Spottsyl- 
vania, and others the plank-road toward Fredericks- 
burg. Lee took another road on the south, and, in 
general, parallel to the course of our troops. Satur- 
day night and Sunday morning, (the 9th,) the Second 
and Fifth Corps passed on toward Spottsylvania. In 
the next five days Lee made repeated attacks laterally, 
endeavoring to flank and drive back our columns, and, 
at Spottsylvania, fought a hard and bloody battle. On 
Sunday there was an engagement with a part of War- 
ren's Corps, and on Monday, one with Hancock ; 
during which day General Sedgwick, a good and 
much admired officer, was killed in a skirmish. 

On Tuesday, the 10th of May, Grant's army lay 
along the Po, (one of the small streams which make 
the Mattapony,) near Spottsylvania Court-House. The 
enemy held a fortified position directly opposite, partly 
on the Ny, (another little branch of the Mattapony,) 
on a rising ground, with breastworks, and the marshy 



296 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

ground of the Xv in front. And now it is very plain 
we arc to have another battle. Lee had got into 
Spottsylvania a little ahead of us, and if we are to go 
on, we must fight him ; and, moreover, my reader, the 
more he fights the better for us. We shall lose gal- 
lant men, but we shall win the campaign. 

On the 10th a gallant charge was made by the 
Fifth Corps, with part of the Second, under Gibbons 
and Birney. Repeated charges were made, till the 
enemy was driven to his rifle-pits. In the mean time 
Barlow's Division, on the right, had been turned, and 
suffered some loss ; but, in the afternoon, General 
Upton, of the Sixth Corps, made a successful charge 
on the enemy, scaling his works, capturing a thou- 
sand prisoners and several guns. So closed the 10th 
of May, with heavy losses, but with no decisive re- 
sults. Spottsylvania was not taken, but we were 
there to begin again. So far it was nothing but 
fighting, and so it was likely to continue. We com- 
menced fighting on the 4th, and it is now the morn- 
ing of the 1 ith, when Grant sent to the War Depart- 
ment a very celebrated dispatch : 

"Head-quarters in the Field, May u, 1864, 8, A. M. 

" We have now ended the sixth day of very heavy fighting. The 
result, to this time, is much in our favor. 

"<>ur losses have been heavy, as well as those of the enemy. I 
think the loss of the enemy must be greater. 

" We have taken over five thousand prisoners by battle, while he 
has taken from us but few, except stragglers. 

" I PKOPOSI TO FIGHT IT OUT ON THIS LINE, IF IT TAKES ALL 

SUMMER. U. S. Grant, 

u LiaUenant-Generali Commanding the Armies of the United States." 

I remember when that dispatch came to Cincin- 
nati. 1 1 was noon of a bright day — a glorious May 



GRANT S CELEBRATED MOTTO. 297 

day. "I propose to fight it out on this line, 
if it takes all summer." Some persons have 
criticised this, by saying Grant did not go on that 
line. He did go on that line precisely, for the line 
he was on was after Lee and his army, 1 whether that 
was a straight line or a curved line. It did take all 
summer, and all winter too, but it was the same line, 
and the Army of the Potomac never again retreated. 
When the people heard that Grant was determined 
to "fight it out on that line" they rejoiced, for they 
knew that was the line which would lead to victory 
and peace. All was not quiet on the Potomac, but 
all was the march of armies and the shock of battles. 

On the nth there was no fighting. The positions 
of the armies were the same, and Lee covered Spott- 
sylvania in a crescent-shaped line. 

On the 1 2th, (Thursday,) the dawn of day came 
on with a dense fog, and in this dim light Hancock 
again advanced to the attack. The noble Second, led 
by its dashing commander, was again to be crimsoned 
with blood. The Second Corps was formed in two 
heavy lines, with double columns of battalions, Bar- 
low and Birney in the first line, and Gibbon and 
Mott in the second. The attack was on the enemy's 
right center, at a salient angle of earthworks held by 
Johnson's Division of Ewell's Corps. Our columns 
moved silently, and, from what followed, it seems un- 
seen by the enemy. Professor Coppee thus describes 
what followed : 

" They passed over the rugged and densely wooded 

1 This was distinctly stated in Grant's Order to Meade, (in March,) 
that Lee's army was the objective point, and where Lee went he was to go. 



298 life of general grant. 

space, the enthusiasm growing at every step, till, with 
a terrible charge, and a storm of cheers, they reached 
the enemy's works, scaled them in front and flank, 
surprising the rebels at their breakfast, surrounding 
them, and capturing Edward Johnson's entire divi- 
sion, with its general, two brigades of other troops, 
with their commander, Brigadier-General George H. 
Stuart, and thirty guns. The number of prisoners 
taken was between three and four thousand. It was 
the most decided success yet achieved during the 
campaign. When Hancock heard that these generals 
were taken, he directed that they should be brought 
to him. Offering his hand to Johnson, that officer 
was so affected as to shed tears, declaring that he 
would have preferred death to captivity. He then 
extended his hand to Stuart, whom he had known 
before, saying, 'How are you, Stuart?' but the rebel, 
with great haughtiness, replied, 'I am General Stuart, 
of the Confederate Army ; and, under present circum- 
stances, I decline to take your hand.' Hancock's cool 
and dignified reply was: 'And under any other cir- 
cumstances, General, I should not have offered it.' " l 

An hour after the column of attack had been 
formed, Hancock sent to Grant a pencil dispatch, 
which went over the country like electric fire: u I 
have captured from thirty to forty guns. I have 
finished up Johnson, and am now going into Early." 
His going into Early was not quite so successful; 
still he pushed on to the second line of rifle pits, 
stormed and took it. The enemy now rallied with 
desperate energy, and for fourteen long hours, weary 

1 Coppec's " Grant and I lis Campaigns," page 313. 



GRANT'S CA VALR V AT RICHMOND. 299 

and bloody, the armies fought on, with various for- 
tune. Burnside and Hill had a furious fight; but the 
success of Hancock was the main achievement of the 
day. We had taken part of the enemy's intrench- 
ments, and, on the night of the 12th, Lee again ad- 
vanced backward, and gave evidence of having beaten 
Grant by taking the road to Richmond! Lee was 
both too sensible and too honest a man to make 
more of the thing than there was in it. It is not 
easy to make Lee a great general, but we may readily 
admit he was fair and candid ; so, in his General Or- 
der of May 14th, he announced a series of successes; 
but what were they ? Imboden had driven somebody 
back on the Potomac ; Jones had driven back Averill, 
(who, by the way, had done immense damage on the 
Virginia and Tennessee Road) ; Banks had been de- 
feated in Western Louisiana, and Grant's Cavalry had 
been repulsed at Richmond. At Richmond! How 
came they there ? The fact was, Grant's Cavalry had 
ridden into the suburbs of Richmond ; the alarm bells 
were rung; but, being only cavalry, they thought it 
safer to ride round the city, and finally arrived on the 
James! 1 But what of Lee and his army? Here he 
becomes quite modest, and is justly thankful and 
grateful that his army has not been destroyed, and 
that he has checked the principal army of the enemy. 
How did he check it? On the night of the. 12th he 
retreats; and on the 13th General Meade issues a 



1 Perhaps this brief notice of these expeditions is enough. They 
were all side expeditions, to keep the enemy busy, and from reenforcing 
Lee. Banks was miserably defeated in Louisiana ; but his army was 
of no use there. Averill had been successful. 



300 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

different kind of an Order. He congratulates the 
army on its successes, and says : 

"For eight days and nights, almost without any 
intermission, through rain and sunshine, you have 
been fighting a desperate foe in positions naturally 
st roil--, and rendered doubly so by intrenchments. 
You have compelled him to abandon his fortifications 
on the Rapidan, to retire and to attempt to stop your 
progress, and now he has abandoned the last in- 
trenched position, so tenaciously held, suffering in all 
a loss of eighteen guns, twenty-two colors, eight 
thousand prisoners, including two general officers. 
Your heroic deeds, noble endurance of fatigue and 
privation, will ever be memorable. Let us return 
thanks to God for the mercy thus shown us, and ask 
earnestly for its continuance." 

For several days nothing important was done. 
The rains had been heavy, the roads almost impassa- 
ble, and great numbers of the wounded had to be 
provided for. We now held Fredericksburg, and 
most of the wounded were carried to the hospitals at 
Washington. In these eight days' fighting the army 
had lost enormously ; but so had Lee's army, and so 
it must be till the end. Up to May 21st, (when the 
army was moving on the Anna,) the losses were, 
killed, 5,434; wounded, 27,234; and missing, 6,915. 
Of these, 27,000 were in the Second, Fifth, and Sixth 
Corps. It was found, however, that a very large 
proportion of the wounded were but slightly injured, 
so that probably more than half the wounded were 
returned to the army in a few weeks. The actual 
losses were never so great as they were represented 



CITY POINT AND BERMUDA OCCUPIED. 301 

to be. They were losses, for the time being, from the 
army; but of all that 39,000 returned among the 
losses, not more than one-third (13,000) were killed, 
died, or were permanently injured. General Grant, 
in a subsequent report, (July, 1865,) left it to the 
calm judgment of the country, and especially of those 
who mourned, whether better plans might have been 
conceived or better executed ; but for himself, he 
said, he had acted conscientiously and faithfully. 

When Lee left Spottsylvania, the heaviest battles 
of the Richmond campaigns were over. Other battles 
and other tragedies were enacted for nearly a year to 
come ; but I do not propose to recite their details, 
for they amount to but little more than the weari- 
some processes of a siege. I shall hasten on to the 
last scene of the drama. But, in the mean time, two 
or three incidental enterprises must be mentioned. 
First, on the same day on which Grant crossed the 
Rapidan, (the 4th,) Butler moved up the James, was 
joined by a division under Gilmore, and, on the 5th, 
occupied both City Point and Bermuda, having com- 
pletely surprised the enemy. He intrenched himself 
here, and made an attack on the railroad, but was 
not entirely successful in cutting off the enemy's 
approaches. Beauregard arrived from the South, and 
Butler was really held fast at Bermuda. In this posi- 
tion, his force was of no use, except as a garrison for 
Bermuda — a position from which to operate in the 
future. But the losses of both Grant and Lee made 
reinforcements necessary. Breckinridge was sent up 
from the South- West to Lee, and Beauregard sent 
forward part of his army from Petersburg ; and thus 



302 LIFE OF GENERAL (.RANT. 

Lee was heavily reenforced, and so was Grant. Stan- 
tun announced, from the War Department, that it was 
the purpose of Government to keep Grant reenforced 
to the end. And so he was. Thus matters stood on 
the 19th of May, when we recommenced our march 
to Richmond. All the night of the 20th, the troops 
were moving to new positions. The cavalry were 
near Gaines's Station, on the Fredericksburg Rail- 
road, and the Second Corps on the way, near Spott- 
sylvania; and at 6, A. M., of the 21st, the Fifth 
Corps (Warren's) took up its line of march, and 
all was again motion. Forward! is the order. Grant 
was marching to the North Anna, and Lee was going 
there too , and it seems, from what took place, that 
Lee had prepared intrenchments at all these places. 
The advance of the army reached the North Anna 
on the morning of the 22d of May. The bridge 
over the North Anna was defended by a redan, and 
commanded by batteries ; but a brilliant charge of 
Berry's Division carried it. The army crossed the 
Anna on the 24th ; but Grant was rather surprised 
to find Lee's army drawn up in strong intrenchments 
in a triangle, with the apex toward the Anna, and 
the wings very strongly defended. So Grant con- 
tinued his plan — the oblique — flanking the enemy's 
right. lie recrossed the Anna on the 27th, under 
cover of a false attack on Lee, and took his march 
terly to the Pamunkey. So poor Lee lost all his 
labor on intrenchments. His position was admirable, 
but he was flanked! On the 28th, Sheridan entered 
Hanovertown, on the Pamunkey River, fifteen miles 
from Richmond. The infantry divisions began to arrive 



POSSESSION OF COLD HARBOR. 303 

that day. The crossing of the Pamunkey was secured, 
and transports were already arriving by York River 
for the support of the army. On the 29th, the whole 
army crossed the Pamunkey, and took position about 
three miles from it. On Tuesday, the 31st, the army 
was reenforced by the Eighteenth Corps, (General C. 
F. Smith,) from Bermuda. On that day Grant ordered 
the cavalry to take possession of Cold Harbor, and 
hold it, which it did, but not without a hard fight. 
Cold Harbor was a very important position, and the 
enemy did not mean we should hold it, if possible to 
prevent it ; so, on the 1st of June, a division under 
Hoke made a furious attack on Sheridan, which was 
repulsed ; but Hoke was soon reenforced heavily, and 
on our side the Sixth Corps (now Wright's) and the 
Eighteenth (C. F. Smith's) came in, and the enemy 
was defeated in all attempts to dislodge us. And 
thus we held complete possession of Cold Harbor, 
which was to us quite important. But now came an 
affair (very bloody) in which we had nothing to boast 
of. Grant thought he could drive the enemy over 
the Chickahominy by an assault, which he accord- 
ingly made, on the 3d of June, but without success. 
His own account of it, and his view of the situa- 
tion, was given in his report, as follows : 

"On the 3d of June we again assaulted the ene- 
my's works, in the hope of driving him from his posi- 
tion. In this attempt our loss was heavy, while that 
of the enemy, I have reason to believe, was com- 
paratively light. It was the only general attack made 
from the Rapidan to the James which did not inflict 
upon the enemy losses to compensate for our own 



304 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

losses. I would not be understood as saying that all 
previous attacks resulted in victories to our arms, or 
accomplished as much as I had hoped from them ; 
but they inflicted upon the enemy severe losses, 
which tended, in the end, to the complete overthrow 
of the rebellion." 

This was the battle of Cold Harbor, of which 
Grant dispatched, on June the 5th, that he thought 
the killed, wounded, and missing, in three days' oper- 
ations, would be about seven thousand five hundred. 
In fact, it was much greater, the total losses amount- 
in ir to about thirteen thousand. For the next seven 

o 

days there was intrenching and counter-intrenching, 
by both armies, on lines near and nearly parallel to 
one another. But Grant had, long before, determined 
to take the James River as his base, unless he could 
succeed in a forward attack on Lee ; but Lee's de- 
fensive movements prevented this, and he now de- 
termined to leave the base of York River, and the 
line of Chickahominy, and swing round upon the 
James. Now, let it be observed, that lie did this on 
Jus own responsibility, and against the opinions of 
other generals, 1 as he did at Vicksburg. If, therefore, 
there be any merit in his campaigns, I say he is fully 
entitled to it, and unquestionably he is willing to take 
the responsibility for his errors. 

The enemy had fortified Bottom's Bridge, and lay 
from that along the Chickahominy. Below that (six 
miles) was Long's Bridge, and below that Jones's. 

l S«e Ilalleck's letter to Grant, dated May 27, 1864, in which he 
gives the opinions of McClellan and other generals on the best mode 
of attacking Richmond. 



ARMY CROSSES THE JAMES. 305 

On the 1 2th, the grand army began to move. The 
Second and Fifth Corps moved over Long's Bridge ; 
the Sixth and Ninth over Jones's, and the Eighteenth 
marched to the White House, embarked in trans- 
ports, and went to Bermuda Hundred by water. On 
Tuesday, the 14th, the army began crossing the James, 
on pontoon bridges, and on Wednesday had completed 
its magnificent movement. And now Grant's army is 
where McClellan ought to have put his in the first 
place, on the James, with our navy for its base. For 
the next four or five days, there were attacks on 
Petersburg, and skirmishes in various directions ; but 
the enemy had now arrived in force, and it was vain 
to expect any thing from a mere assault. We must 
now sit down to a regular siege, and yet not quite a 
siege, because the enemy's communications to the 
west and south were kept open, mainly by three rail- 
roads ; one to Weldon, North Carolina ; one to Dan- 
ville, on the Roanoke ; and one to Lynchburg. These 
supplied Lee's army with men and provisions ; and 
now the reader must understand that the great object 
of the siege was to cut off these communications. I 
shall not now detail the various assaults, maneuvers, 
enterprises, and raids which, for the next eight 
months, occupied Grant's army. It is unnecessary 
to understand the movements which brought about 
success, and uninteresting to the general reader. 
Deep Bottom, only ten miles from Richmond, was 
occupied on the 21st of June, and immediately con- 
nected with Bermuda Hundred by a pontoon bridge. 
In the latter part of June, Wilson and Kautz (cav- 
alry officers) made great and important raids on the 

26 



306 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Weldon and Danville Railroads, destroying a great 
many miles of road, and doing immense damage. All 
this, however, was not decisive. The army had done 
much, but now had to rest for a time. 

In the mean while a great expedition had been 
sent up the Shenandoah Valley, under Hunter, whose 
object was Lynchburg. It was very successful till it 
got before Lynchburg, when it was found that Lee, 
with his communications all open, had thrown for- 
ward nearly a corps of troops for the support of that 
place, and that Hunter was nearly without provisions. 
The consequence was, that Hunter retreated, and 
failed in his main object. In truth, looking to the 
objective points, our half dozen lateral expeditions 
had accomplished little ; but, in another point of view, 
they had accomplished very much. They held fifty 
thousand good troops from joining Lee, and they had 
destroyed an immense amount of supplies, which had 
been accumulated at various points for his army. 

It had now got to be the beginning of July, the 
atmosphere scorching hot, the ground parched, and 
the troops wearied out, greatly needing rest ; so Grant 
ordered no more marches or battles just then, but left 
the troops to rest for a time, while the officers were 
preparing various episodes to the campaign, some of 
which were neither very successful nor very com- 
mendable. 

But here let us rest, glad to know that no more 
such battles as those of the Wilderness and of 
Spottsylvania are to be fought again till our war-worn 
troops return in victory and peace. 



THE PETERSBURG MINE. 307 



CHAPTER XIV. 

CLOSE OF THE WAR. 

THE PETERSBURG MINE — GRANT'S LETTER ON THE REBELS — 
TAKES THE WELDON RAILROAD — SENDS SHERIDAN AFTER 
EARLY — BATTLES OF WINCHESTER, OF FISHER'S HILL, AND 
OF MIDDLETOWN — EARLY'S FORCES DESTROYED — HOOD 
GOES TO NASHVILLE AND SHERMAN GOES TO SAVANNAH — ■ 
SHERMAN'S CHRISTMAS PRESENT — MOBILE AND WILMING- 
TON TAKEN — SHERMAN MARCHES TO RALEIGH — STORM OF 
PETERSBURG — BATTLE OF FIVE FORKS — SURRENDER OF 
LEE — SURRENDER OF JOHNSTON — GRAND REVIEW AT WASH- 
INGTON. 

THE army was now comparatively at rest, in the 
hot days of a Southern summer ; but the officers 
wanted something to do; so they proceeded to dig a 
mine. Now a mine can be useful only in one case — 
when the enemy has a strong rampart, perhaps a 
bastion, strongly defended, which you can not then 
storm. If you can manage to blow up a part of that 
work, and storm the breach instantly, you can proba- 
bly make a lodgment in the enemy's works, and that 
is what you want. But such an operation was not 
applicable to the case of Petersburg, and probably 
would not have succeeded if no accident or mis- 
understanding had occurred in the arrangements. 
However that may be, the mine at Petersburg did 



GRANT'S LETTER TO WASHBURN. 309 

not succeed. It exploded on the 30th of July. The 
storming party failed to be on time ; the enemy en- 
filaded the breach with the fire of artillery, and had a 
second line in the rear. The result was, we lost heav- 
ily, and the mine was, in fact, a great disaster. The 
memory of it brings to my mind the loss of many 
fair and promising young men, needlessly cut down 
in the bloom of their youth. 

The summer was now closing, and it is not to be 
disguised that our operations from the middle of 
June till September had been unfortunate. All was 
successful till we arrived on the James ; but when 
there, it seems to have taken several months to arrive 
at the true conception of what was to be done. It 
was a simple thing, but hard to do. It was to cut 
off the three railroads which supplied Lees army with 
men a?id food. Till then, there was no need of mak- 
ing bloody assaults on the enemy's works — digging 
mines and canals, and dreaming of the surrender of 
Richmond. Grant saw all this; but his enterprising 
generals wanted employment. Grant saw more than 
this. He saw the rebellion was exhausted, and he 
expressed this very well in a letter, written on the 
1 6th of August, to Mr. Washburn, his representative 
in Congress. He says : 

"The rebels have now in their ranks their last 
man. The little boys and old men are guarding 
prisoners, guarding railroad bridges, and forming a 
good part of their garrisons for intrenched positions. 
A man lost by them can not be replaced. They 
have robbed the cradle and the grave equally to get 
their present force. Besides what they lose in fre- 



310 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

quent skirmishes and battles, they are now losing 
from desertions and other causes at least one regi- 
ment per day." 

This was true and terse. They had robbed the 
cradle and the grave, and no more men could be got. 
This was not wholly for the want of men, for, in 
fact, the South had double as many men able to take 
the field as were in the armies ; but the Southern 
people saw and knew, as well as we did, that the 
war was practically drawing to a close, and that the 
rebel Confederacy could in no possible event succeed. 
The people, therefore, no longer supported the war 
with any heart, and the rebel Government could no 
longer get reinforcements except by force. 

In the months of autumn no really important 
operation was performed by Grant's army, after that 
of taking and holding the Weldon Railroad, which 
was done by Warren's Corps, on the 20th of August. 
Over and over again had this been attempted in 
vain ; but our lines were gradually extending to the 
left, and now we got and kept the Weldon Railroad, 
which was one of the main lines of supply to the 
rebel army. That gained, little was done for several 
months. 

In the mean time, let us briefly trace out the 
collateral movements — one of them, at least, on a 
grand scale — which, although not under the immedi- 
ate command of Grant, were, nevertheless, parts of 
the magnificent plan he had formed to destroy the 
rebellion. We have seen that Hunter's expedition 
up the Shenandoah to take Lynchburg was a failure. 
In consequence of the withdrawal of his troops, (part 



GENERAL EARL Y DRIVEN BA CK. 3 1 1 

of them were sent in other directions,) Early, with a 
corps of the rebel army, moved down the Shenan- 
doah, carrying all before him — entered Maryland, 
robbing and plundering in every direction, and finally 
arrived near the fortifications of Washington. This, 
of course, threw the Government into consternation ; 
but Grant did not, like Frederick to his queen, write, 
"Remove the archives!" Nor was he to be moved 
from his own position ; but he quietly sends the 
Sixth Corps (Wright's) and the Nineteenth to Wash- 
ton by water. He could afford this, for his army had 
been heavily reenforced. He had now the Second, 
Fifth, Sixth, Tenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth 
Corps. He sent the Sixth and Nineteenth to Wash- 
ington, who quickly drove back Early, and kept on 
driving him back, till he got to near Winchester. 
But now something new must be done. To the dis- 
grace of our military genius, this see-saw operation 
up and down the Shenandoah Valley had been going 
on all through the war. It ought to have been 
stopped in the beginning ; but, I have already said, 
the Government had no general plan, which should 
cover the country, and be persistently carried out, till 
Grant was put in complete command ; and now there 
was a plan. Hunter's expedition was to have taken 
and kept the Shenandoah Valley, but failed ; and in 
the mean while, Grant had hoped to have brought 
Lee to a final battle, and destroyed his army, which, 
with our superior forces, could have been done, sooner 
or later. But Lee assumed the defensive, and con- 
tinually fought behind intrenchments ; hence he was 
able to keep Early in the Valley. But it was time 



3 12 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

to stop this, and Grant put a man at the head of the 
army in the Valley who would fight, and whose cease- 
less energy would leave the enemy no opportunity 
for their customary raids. This man was General 
Philip H. Sheridan, a native of Ohio, who has well 
earned the reputation of the American Murat. 

On the 7th of August, West Virginia, Washing- 
ten, and the Susquehanna and the Shenandoah were 
formed into a new department, called the "Middle 
Military Division," and General Sheridan assigned to 
its command. The divisions of cavalry under Tor- 
bert and Wilson were sent to him from the Army of 
the Potomac. The latter part of August and begin- 
ning of September were occupied in skirmishes and 
preparations, and by the middle of September the 
two armies were in position near Winchester. The 
enemy, under Early, lay on the west bank of Ope- 
quan Creek, covering Winchester ; and our army, 
under Sheridan, lay in front of Berryville. From 
Perryville south were two roads, one leading directly 
to Winchester, and the other leading more easterly 
to White Post. Early lay across the Winchester 
road on the Opequan, in order to cover Winchester 
and command the roads south. Grant, who had the 
direction of all movements, hesitated about giving 
Sheridan permission to move on the enemy, for, if 
defeated, it certainly would not be very comfortable. 
There were Maryland and Washington right before 
the enemy; so he went to see Sheridan, and was so 
well satisfied that all the order he gave was, "Go in." 
Grant asked, if he could be ready Tuesday? Sheri- 
dan said, "Yes, Monday." Grant said, in his report, 



" SHERIDAN'S RIDE." 313 

"He was off promptly to time, and, I may here add, 
that the result was such that I have never since 
deemed it necessary to visit General Sheridan before 
giving him orders." 1 Sheridan's campaign lasted 
about five weeks, and it was decisive. On the morn- 
ing of the 19th of September he attacked Early at 
the crossing of Opequan Creek, and, in a hard-fought, 
sanguinary battle, utterly defeated him, capturing five 
pieces of artillery and several thousand prisoners, 
driving him through Winchester to Fisher's Hill. 
There Early again made a stand, and was again de- 
feated. Sheridan pursued him to the gaps of the 
Blue Ridge, and, after stripping the country of its 
provisions, returned to Strasburg. In the beginning 
of October, Early, reenforced, returned. On the 9th 
his cavalry was totally defeated; but, on the 19th, 
near Middletown, while Sheridan was in Winchester, 
he succeeded in surprising and turning our army, 
which retreated some distance. A messenger had in- 
formed Sheridan of the enemy's attack, and, just at 
the crisis, he arrived on the field, having galloped hard 
from Winchester. The effect was instantaneous. The 
army was at once re-formed — at once attacked the 
enemy, who was defeated, with great slaughter, losing 
his artillery and trains. Early escaped in the night, 
with the wreck of his army, and no more returned. 
The brilliant poet of Ohio, T. Buchanan Read, em- 
bodied the memory of this battle in the Ode, called 
" Sheridan's Ride :" 

" He dashed down the line, 'mid a storm of huzzas, 
And the wave of retreat checked its course there, because 

1 Grant's Report, July 22, 1865. 
27 



314 LITE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

The sight of the master compelled it to pause. 

With foam and with dust, the black charger was gray; 

By the Hash of his eye, and the red nostril's play, 

He seemed to the whole great army to say, 

' 1 have brought you Sheridan all the way 

From Winchester, down to save the day!'" 

We shall see Sheridan once more, in the last de- 
cisive battle, when the war-clouds pass away. 

In the mean time Sherman was carrying on a 
most brilliant campaign in Georgia. On the 6th of 
May he moved from Chattanooga, with the armies of 
the Cumberland, Tennessee, and Ohio, commanded 
respectively by Thomas, McPherson, and Schofield, 
upon Johnston's army, at Dalton. After battles and 
skirmishes of various character at Resaca, New Hope, 
Dallas, Kenesaw, and Atlanta, steadily forcing John- 
ston's army back from point to point, he took and 
occupied Atlanta, on the 2d of September. In the 
bloody battle of the 22d of July, in front of Atlanta, 
was killed the "brave, accomplished, and noble- 
hearted" McPherson, who had been with and near 
Grant in nearly all his long and successful campaigns 
in the West, and whose loss was lamented by the 
whole country. 

The rebels were so displeased with the ill-suc- 
cess of Johnston that Davis was compelled to put 
Hood, a Texas officer, in command. This officer 
had more fight and less skill than Johnston ; so he 
(after fighting, with great loss, the battles round 
Atlanta) thought he would cut Sherman's communi- 
cations, and thus drive him back. He did cut the 
communications for a time effectually, but was him- 
self driven off. After that he devised a new plan, 



THE REBEL G O VERMENT AT FAULT. 3 I 5 

which he thought would certainly succeed — moving to 
the West, with a view of moving on Middle Tennessee 
and destroying our great storehouse of supplies at 
Nashville. At the same time Sherman conceived 
the counterpart of this. If General Hood chooses 
to amuse himself in going to Tennessee, why not let 
him ? Nashville can be defended, and I can move on 
Savannah, Augusta, or Charleston. It is perfectly 
clear, from what followed, that the rebel Govern- 
ment never imagined what actually happened. "Cut- 
ting communications" was a great idea with them 
throughout the war. Hood thought that if he got a 
clear road to Nashville, Sherman would follow him, 
or detach a large part of his army, and the rebel 
Government never dreamed that Sherman would 
venture on marching through the country without 
supplies or communications with our depots. But 
Grant had learned in Mississippi the great lesson 
that he could subsist an army in the interior of the 
South ; and he had since then learned another great 
truth, that the South could raise no more armies. 
Hence, if Hood could be induced to do the very 
thing he did do, (get out of the way,) it was quite 
obvious Sherman would have an unobstructed march. 
To my mind, at the time, there was not a doubt on 
the subject. I did not see the slightest danger in 
Sherman's march to the sea. It seemed to me a very 
easy thing. But what better could the rebels have 
done? If Hood had kept in front of Sherman, it 
would have varied the movement only in this: Hood 
could not then have cut Sherman's communications, 
and Sherman would have driven him back, just as he 



3l6 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

had done Johnston. In fact, the rebel generals were 
blamed for not doing impossibilities. They could not 
raise new armies, and the war was drawing to an in- 
evitable close. All they fought for, after Vicksburg, 
was to secure some advantages by negotiation which 
they would not have by a surrender. This was proved 
by the escapade at Niagara, at which poor Clay and 
Ilolcomb endeavored to draw Greeley into a negoti- 
ation on the part of the Government. Mr. Lincoln 
very happily answered them, in his brief answer, "To 
all whom it may concern," which it gave them 
much concern to receive. 

Fighting in this desperate way, without a gleam 
of real hope, Hood rushed off to Nashville, and Sher- 
man took advantage of it. He had already burned 
Atlanta, and now, destroying all the railroads about 
it, he turned his face toward the capital of Georgia. 
But I here remark, that this plan of Sherman's was 
formed at a late hour, as is proved by the dispatches 
between Sherman and Grant. About the beginning 
of October, Sherman sent a letter to Grant, pro- 
posing that, if Hood went West, he should march 
on Augusta, Columbia, and Charleston. Grant be- 
lieved a good deal more in fighting than he did in a 
mere march through the country, and, moreover, did 
not believe in leaving an enemy's army at liberty to 
go on its own way : 

"If he does this, he ought to be met and pre- 
vented from getting north of the Tennessee River. 
If you were to cut loose, I do not believe you would 
meet Hood's army, but would be bushwhacked by all 
the old men and little boys, and such railroad-guards 



SHERMAN'S DISPA TCH. 3 1 7 

v 

as are still left at home. Hood would probably strike 

for Nashville, thinking that, by going north, he could 
inflict greater damage upon us than we could upon 
the rebels by going south. If there is any way of 
getting at Hood's army, I would prefer that; but I 
must trust to your own judgment." 

This whole scheme will be best understood by the 
following dispatches between Grant and Sherman, on 
the nth of October: 

" We can not remain here on the defensive. With the twenty-five 
thousand men, and the bold cavalry he has, he can constantly break 
my roads. I would infinitely prefer to make a wreck of the road, and 
of the country from Chattanooga to Atlanta, including the latter city — 
send back all my wounded and worthless, and, with my effective army, 
move through Georgia, smashing things, to the sea. Hood may turn 
into Tennessee and Kentucky, but I believe he will be forced to follow 
me. Instead of my being on the defensive, I would be on the offensive; 
instead of guessing at what he means to do, he would have to guess at 
my plans. The difference in war is full twenty-five per cent. I can 
make Savannah, Charleston, or the mouth of the Chattahoochee. 

" Answer quick, as I know we will not have the telegraph long. 

" W. T. Sherman, Major- General. 

"Lieutenant-General Grant." 

"City Point, Va., October 11, 1864— 11.30, P. M. 

" Your dispatch of to-day received. If you are satisfied the trip to 
the sea-coast can be made, holding the line of the Tennessee River 
firmly, you may make it, destroying all the railroad south of Dalton or 
Chattanooga, as you think best. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant- General. 

"Major-General W. T. Sherman." 

Most fortunately for Shermans plan, Hood acted 
precisely as he should, if he was in the council, and 
favored the scheme. He marched off toward Nash- 
ville; and Sherman, leaving the Fourth and Twenty- 
Third Corps, under Thomas, to meet Hood, took up 
his march on the 14th of November. There was, in 
fact, nothing in his way. The rebels had no army 



3l8 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

but Hood's which was available, and that had de- 
liberately marched out of the way. Sherman had 
nothing to do but to take the main roads to Augusta 
and Savannah, keep his army in good order, and 
send out his cavalry and bummers to gather pro- 
visions from the surrounding country. A few guer- 
rilla cavalry hovered about him, doing but little harm. 
Johnston was again called upon to resist the invader; 
but to what purpose, without an army? Sherman 
went regularly and easily on, with a skirmish here 
and a skirmish there, keeping the main road to Au- 
gusta to the point where the highway to Savannah 
turned off, and then as steadily on that. Passing 
along between the Ogechee and the Savannah, Sher- 
man reached Savannah at Christmas; presenting, as 
he said in his letter, Savannah, with its artillery, mu- 
nitions, and twenty-five thousand bales of cotton, to 
the Government, as a Christmas present! It was well 
done, and was one of the conclusive evidences the 
rebels were now constantly receiving that the Con- 
federacy was in a dying condition. 

Let us now turn to General Hood. This person 
had a great deal of energy, courage, and determination. 
When Sherman left Atlanta, he kept on his way to- 
ward Nashville. So did Thomas, who had the Fourth 
Corps, under Stanley, and the Twenty-Third, under 
Schofield, and a large body of reinforcements, daily 
arriving from various parts of the West. In Decem- 
ber, Hood arrived before Nashville, having occupied 
Columbia on the 26th of November, and on the 30th 
advanced to Franklin. Hood having divided his 
forces into two heavy columns, one of which was 



GENERAL THOMAS'S VICTORY. 319 

intended to flank our troops at Franklin by moving 
round east of it, attacked that place on the evening 
of the 30th with his main column. General Schofield 
commanded at Franklin, and managed to maintain his 
position there during the day, beginning his retreat 
at night. It was a most fortunate retreat ; for the 
enemy's column to the east had nearly succeeded in 
getting to our rear, and actually marched for some 
distance near and parallel to our army on the turn- 
pike. The result was, our forces were all driven 
back to within three miles of Nashville. Great alarm 
prevailed, and the Government laborers were armed. 
Hood then seems to have formed the bold plan of 
cutting off Thomas, in Nashville, from his communi- 
cations with Louisville and Bridgeport — actually in- 
vesting him. In the mean while our army was con- 
stantly reenforced, and in a few days Thomas became 
strong enough to take the offensive. Hood occupied 
the Overton range of hills. On the 15th of December, 
Thomas made a feint on his right, and a real attack 
on his left, driving him back from the river below 
the city, a distance of eight miles, capturing many 
prisoners, and sixteen pieces of artillery. Hood con- 
tracted his lines on the Brentwood hills ; but, on the 
morning of the 16th, was again attacked by Thomas, 
and totally defeated, losing most of his artillery, and 
several thousand prisoners. That night General 
Thomas reported to the War Department a complete 
victory. Hood retreated with the wreck of his army 
into North Alabama. The battle of Nashville was 
complete and decisive. It ended the war in the 
West, and no more military events of any importance 



320 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

occurred there. In fact, the capture of Chattanooga 
by Rosecrans, and the capture of Vicksburg and the 
opening of the Mississippi by Grant, had made any 
successful defense in the South-West by the rebels 
impossible. And now the march of Sherman to Sa- 
vannah, and the final destruction of Hood's army, had 
utterly destroyed the rebel power in the whole West 
and South-West. There remained in the once strong 
and haughty Confederacy, east of the Mississippi, only 
the three States of Virginia, South and North Caro- 
lina, in which the rebels had any strength. In one 
word, it was reduced to Lee's army, and the fortifi- 
cations of Wilmington and Charleston. The year 
1864 closed with the moral certainty, apparent to all 
intelligent men, that the Confederacy was conquered ; 
yet there seemed at Richmond the same blind fatuity 
which, in all history, seems to actuate those whom 
God has destined to destruction. The rebel Congress 
continued to deliberate on their plans and resources, 
in the same style of defiant folly which they had man- 
ifested from the beginning. Lee called for more men. 
Where were they to be had ? Conscript and arm the 
negroes ; but the rebel Congress refused to do this 
till the last moment. The wiser and more sagacious 
members of the rebel Assembly refused, probably for 
reasons which history will fail properly to record. 
They saw that the Confederacy was dying, and if, to 
save its existence for a few months, (all that was pos- 
sible,) they raised a negro army, that negro soldiery 
would be ready (when peace returned) to keep them in 
s ubj eet ion. They were looking to ulterior results, and 
were wise in so doing ; for there can be no doubt that 



STRAITS OF THE REBEL CONFEDERACY. 32 1 

if the negroes had been armed to defend their mas- 
ters, they would have used those arms against their 
masters when the war ended. 

We must now return to the great field at Rich- 
mond, and see what became of Lee and his army, and 
the few remaining fortresses of the rebels. 

After driving Lee from the Weldon Railroad, 
little had been done in Grant's army. Large forces, 
as I have already described, had been detached to 
Sheridan, and it was necessary to destroy the possi- 
bilities of Early's movements North, and, as Sheri- 
dan did, destroy the grain crops of the Valley, and 
thus cut off Lee's resources in that quarter, before 
any thing more decisive could be done. In the mean 
time, Lee tried to use the Weldon road by wagon- 
ing supplies through the country from a certain point 
on the road ; but, in December, an expedition from 
Grant's army destroyed twenty miles of the road, and 
thus cut off that resource. The new year, 1865, 
opened with the moral certainty that the great work 
of the war would soon be over, and the rebel Con- 
federacy be numbered among the lost things of his- 
tory. Early's army in the Valley had been destroyed ; 
so had Hood's before Nashville. Mobile had been 
taken, the Shenandoah Valley had been devastated, 
and cavalry expeditions from Vicksburg, Baton Rouge, 
and other points had laid waste the lower part of 
Mississippi, and carried terror through the South. 
Grant had declared that the Confederacy was hollow, 
and wasted of its resources; that the rebel com- 
manders had robbed the cradle and the grave to sup- 
ply the army. And so they had. But the South had 



322 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

lost its will, its hope, and its courage. It was useless 
to prolong a desperate conflict only to end in destruc- 
tion. But the last scene must be gone through with, 
however bloody, however disastrous. 

In the beginning of February, General Grant 
marched a large part of his army on to Hatcher's 
Run, to the enemy's right, there threw up intrench- 
ments, and was able to maintain them, after a most 
furious attack by Lee. This was an advanced posi- 
tion, and one step farther in the direction by which 
we were to turn the enemy's right. 

In the beginning of March the line of Grant's 
army was thirty miles in length, the right resting at 
Chapin's farm, on James River, thence crossing the 
James at Bermuda Hundred, extending round Peters- 
burg as far as Hatcher's Run. This whole line was 
intrenched, but the greater part of the army lay on 
the left, for it was necessary we should be contin- 
ually pressing toward the Southside Railroad, in 
order to cut off Lee's last communication. In the 
mean time, Grant had sent orders to Sheridan to 
take his cavalry and go on toward Lynchburg, de- 
stroying, if he could, the canal and railroad, and 
finally, if he chose, join Sherman in North Carolina, 
as Grant was afraid Sherman was deficient in cavalry. 
Sheridan did not do exactly that, but he did, on the 
whole, quite as well, if not better. He proceeded 
rapidly up the Valley to Staunton, routed the rem- 
nant of poor Early's forces, and then, proceeding to 
the James River canal and the Lynchburg Railroad, 
destroyed a large portion of the canal and an im- 
mense quantity of provisions and munitions. It was 



GRANTS ARMY AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 323 

found that the James River canal was the great 
feeder of Lee's army. Grant's order to Sheridan 
contains a paragraph which shows how completely 
the rebel country was now at our mercy, and how 
fully Grant realized that to cut off their supplies 
would put an end to the rebel forces. He says: 

" This additional raid, with one now about start- 
ing from East Tennessee, under Stoneman, number- 
ing four or five thousand cavalry, one from Vicks- 
burg, numbering seven or eight thousand cavalry, 
one from Eastport, Mississippi, ten thousand cavalry, 
Canby from Mobile Bay, with about thirty-eight 
thousand mixed troops — these three latter, pushing 
for Tuscaloosa, Selma, and Montgomery, and Sher- 
man, with a large army eating out the vitals of South 
Carolina, is all that will be wanted to leave nothing 
for the rebellion to stand upon." 1 

To use a common expression, the rebellion was 
on its last legs, and nothing can be conceived of 
more hopeless or useless than the struggle the rebels 
made now, or had made from the fall of Vicksburg. 

Sheridan finally arrived at the White House, and 
joined Grant's army. At this time, in the siege of 
Richmond, the final destruction of Lee, if he remained 
in Richmond, seemed inevitable, and the real question 
was one for Lee's solution. Was he to remain, and 
there surrender to Grant ? or was he to march out, 
and trv to gain Lynchburg, and prolong the war a 
little wnile ? The last, to be sure, was useless ; but 
the beaten do n't like to surrender. They look round 
the whole horizon, to see whether there are any means 

' Grant's dispatch to Sheridan from City Point, February 20th. 



324 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

of escape. From what followed, it seems that Lee 
was in a state of irresolution. lie could not bear 
to leave Richmond, and yet he would rather leave it 
than to surrender there. He thought he would try 
one desperate assault. A happy turn of fortune, an 
unforeseen accident, might give a temporary success. 
So he resolved on storming a portion of our in- 
trenchments. On the right of our line, investing 
Petersburg, was Fort Steadman ; on the west of it, 
Fort Haskell ; and still further on the extreme right, 
was Fort McGilvry. All these were mutually en- 
filading, which was necessary to their defense, in case 
any one of them should be captured. On the morn- 
ing of the 25th of March, two rebel divisions, under 
General Gordon, rushed over our intrenchments and 
captured Fort Steadman, and the batteries immedi- 
ately adjoining it. It was a brilliant movement, but 
only for a moment successful. The guns of Fort 
Haskell were immediately brought to bear upon 
them. The division of Hartrauft rush forward and 
push the enemy out of Steadman into the open space, 
where our batteries have a cross fire upon them, and 
the battle ends, with our capture of two thousand 
prisoners. Of this sudden and brilliant affair, Presi- 
dent Lincoln was a spectator, and had the satisfac- 
tion of seeing the victory of the Union troops. At 
the same time that Gordon was repulsed, the left of 
our line (the Second and Sixth Corps) moved for- 
ward, captured the enemy's intrenched picket line 
on their right, with several hundred prisoners. The 
day ended with the signal success of the Union 
army. Lee had now lost his opportunity. A week 



CHARLESTON SURRENDERED. 325 

or two sooner he could have left Richmond ; but now 
it was too late. He seems to have been wholly ir- 
resolute what to do, and so held on. 

We must now return for a moment to General 
Sherman. He left Savannah about the 1st of Feb- 
ruary, on his march through South Carolina. The 
renel commanders supposed it absolutely impossible 
to cross the swamps of lower Carolina with a large 
army ; and, in fact, this was the main difficulty. But 
our army had thousands of all sorts of craftsmen in 
it — lumbermen, engineers, steam boatmen, mechanics 
of every description, and capable of doing or devis- 
ing any kind of work. Many miles of the worst 
swamps were corduroyed, and many streams and 
rivers were bridged. Thus the army moved on in 
parallel columns. On the 17th of February, How- 
ard's Corps, with General Sherman, entered Columbia, 
the capital of South Carolina. The enemy had piled 
up cotton and lint in the streets, which, by some 
means, took fire, and destroyed the largest part of 
Columbia. General Hampton complained very much, 
and charged it upon the Union troops. Sherman 
had, in fact, given orders to the contrary, but it was 
hardly worth a controversy, and probably few Union 
people regretted that such a retribution should fall 
on the people of a State which had caused so useless 
and bloody a war. 

In consequence of the march of our army on its 
rear, and the necessity of preserving, if possible, its 
garrison, Charleston was evacuated and surrendered 
on the 1 8th. The garrison, under General Hardee, 
marched to the East, to join the scattering bodies of 



326 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

troops now assembling under Johnston. The army 
crossed the Pedee near Cheraw, (South Carolina,) and, 
on the i i tli of March, reached Fayetteville, on Cape 
Fear River, (North Carolina.) Here, again, every 
thing which could be made use of by an enemy was 
destroyed. Heretofore, Sherman had really no enemy 
in front of him, except light cavalry and guerrillas. 
But he was now made aware that there was really a 
large army gathering in around him. 1 Beauregard's 
shattered troops at Columbia had gone on. The 
remains of Hood's Corps had crossed the Savannah 
at Augusta, and were proceeding rapidly to the front. 
Hardee had left Charleston with about 15,000 men, 
and now Sherman had to move cautiously. 

In the mean time, General Thomas, who no longer 
had need of his army at Nashville, had sent round 
the Twenty-Third Corps, under General Schofield, to 
join in the operations round Wilmington. These 
were entirely successful, and, on the 2 2d of February, 
General Cox's Division entered that city. The whole 
coast, with its towns and fortresses, was in our pos- 
session. General Sherman knew this, and sent twenty 
messengers to Schofield, to inform him that he would 
move on Goldsboro, and that he wanted Schofield 
and Terry to join him from Newberne. 2 He com- 
menced his own march from Fayetteville on the 15th. 
On the 1 8th, Slocum's Corps encamped on the 
Goldsboro road, five miles from Bentonville. Here 
a severe battle occurred, but the result was that 
Sherman held possession of Goldsboro, with the two 
railroads to Wilmington and Beaufort. We may 
'Sherman's Report. 2 Idem. 



CONSUL TA TION A T CITY POINT. 327 

here leave the Army of Sherman, which, after a 
series of signal successes, went into camp at Golds- 
boro, and performed no more active service. 

All had now come, on the rebel part, to depend 
entirely on the fate of Lee, and that was, to discern- 
ing eyes, in no way uncertain. 

On the 27th of March, Sherman made a hurried 
visit to Grant at City Point. There was a meeting 
which can never more be made on earth ; for Lin- 
coln, who was the chief personage of the scene, was 
soon made the victim of that dark and malicious 
spirit which brought on and still actuated the rebell- 
ion. There at City Point, consulting together, were 
Lincoln, Grant, Sheridan, Meade, and Sherman. 
Sherman said he could move on Johnston by the 
10th of April, with twenty days' supplies; but that 
did not suit Grant, who was afraid Lee would get 
away, and somehow join Johnston. So he fixed a 
grand movement for his army on the 29th of March, 
and, if unsuccessful, intended to throw his cavalry on 
their communications, prevent the junction of Lee 
and Johnston, and beat them in detail. In fact he 
had issued orders for this movement on the 24th of 
March, prior to Sherman's arrival. 1 

On the 28th of March, General Sheridan had or- 
ders to move next morning, and was informed that 
the Fifth Corps would move at 3, A. M., on the 
Vaughn road; the Second at 9, A. M., having only 
three miles to march to get on the right of the Fifth. 
Sheridan had nine thousand cavalry, and was to move 

1 Grant's Order to Generals Meade, Ord, and Sheridan, dated 
March 24, 1865. 



328 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

at his discretion on the enemy's right — the object be- 
ing to reach the Danville or Southside road, and not 
to attack the enemy in his intrenchments. "Should 
he come out," says Grant, "move in with your entire 
force, in your own way, and with the full reliance 
that the army will engage, or follow, as circumstances 
will dictate. I shall be on the field. 1 After having 
accomplished the destruction of the two railroads, 
which are now the only avenues of supply to Lee's 
army, you may return to this army, selecting your 
road farther south." 

Sheridan pushed out, on the morning of the 29th, 
to Dinwiddie Court-House, where he arrived at 5, P. 
M. Our position then was, Sheridan on the extreme 
left ; Warren, with the Fifth, next ; the Second Corps 
next ; then the Twenty-Fourth, Sixth, and Ninth, 
covering Petersburg. 

On the afternoon of the 29th Grant sent a dis- 
patch to Sheridan, stating the position of affairs, and 
closing with this significant and decisive paragraph : 

" I now feel like ending the matter, if it is possible to do so, before 
going back. I do not want you, therefore, to cut loose and go after the 
enemy's roads at present. In the morning, push round the enemy, if 
ymi can, and get on to his right rear. The movements of the enemy's 
cavalry may, of course, modify your action. We will act all together 
as one army here, till it is seen what can be done with the enemy. The 
signal officer at Cobb's Hill reported, at 11.30, A. M., that a cavalry 
column had passed that point from Richmond toward Petersburg, 
taking forty minutes to pass. 

"U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant- General. 

"Major-General P. II. Sheridan." 

On the 30th, when rain had made the roads too 
muddy for infantry, Sheridan started forward with his 

' Grant's Order to Sheridan on the 28th. 



BATTLE OF FIVE FORKS. 329 

cavalry. He went on the White Oak road for Five 
Forks, where he knew the enemy was in force. War- 
ren, with the Fifth, was directed to cross the Boyd- 
town road, and hold it. Sheridan seized the Five 
Forks, but was driven back to Dinwiddie Court- 
House. Grant, who was at Gravelly Run, watching 
all these movements, immediately put the Fifth Corps 
(Warren's) under the command of Sheridan, and thus 
reenforced, Sheridan again moved forward, while the 
other Corps attacked in front. Sheridan was also 
strengthened with McKenzie's Division of Cavalry ; 
and now he began a series of capital maneuvers. 
He directed General Merritt to make a feint on the 
enemy's right flank, while the Fifth Corps struck 
their left. In the mean time the sun was declining, 
and Sheridan rode over to the Fifth Corps and hurried 
it up. The Fifth Corps advanced gallantly, routed 
the enemy, and pursued him. As soon as Merritt 
heard the firing he assaulted the enemy's right and 
carried it. Sheridan said: "The enemy were driven 
from their strong line of works, and completely routed, 
the Fifth Corps doubling up their left flank in con- 
fusion, and the cavalry of General Merritt dashing on 
to the White Oak road, capturing their artillery and 
turning it upon them, and riding into their broken 
ranks, so demoralized them that they made no serious 
stand after their line was carried, but took to flight 
in disorder." 

So ended the battle of Five Forks, which was 
entirely decisive. We took five or six thousand pris- 
oners, and the enemy were entirely demoralized. 

On the morning of April 2d, a general assault 

28 



330 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

was made on the lines of Petersburg, and "General 
Wright penetrated the lines with his whole corps, 
sweeping every thing before him, and to his left to- 
ward Hatcher's Run." This, also, was decisive. Lee 
immediately telegraphed Davis that the lines were 
broken, and Richmond could no longer be held. 
The rebel President was in church, and immediately 
packed up, and, with his pretended Cabinet, left the 
capital that night on the railroad, for Danville. Lee 
rushed off, with the utmost speed, and Sheridan and 
Ord after him. Sheridan struck the Danville road in 
time to head off Lee. We need not trace the few 
remaining military operations. On the 7th, Grant 
addressed a note to Lee, stating that farther resist- 
ance was vain, and asking the surrender of the Army 
of Northern Virginia. Lee asked, before considering 
the proposition, the terms of surrender. To this 
Grant replied, saying that peace was his great desire, 
and there was but one condition of surrender, " that 
the men and officers surrendered" shall be disqualified 
for taking up arms against the Government of the 
United States till properly exchanged. On the 8th, 
Lee replied that he would meet Grant on the old 
stage-road to Richmond, between the pickets of the 
two armies. Grant declined that ; but, on the 9th, 
(his situation in the mean time having become worse,) 
Lee asked an interview in accordance with Grant's 
offer. It was short and decisive. On the 9th of 
April, at Appomattox Court-House, Lee surrendered 
the Army of Northern Virginia to General Grant, 
and thus ended the war ; for all that followed was a 
mere sequel to this main fact. 



SURRENDER OF GENERAL LEE. 331 

The description of the surrender of Lee from a 
rebel pen is worth recording. It is true, and almost 
draws sympathy — certainly pity — from loyal hearts: 

"There is no passage of history in this heart- 
breaking war which will, for years to come, be more 
honorably mentioned, and gratefully remembered, than 
the demeanor, on the 9th of April, 1865, of General 
Grant toward General Lee. I do not so much allude 
to the facility with which honorable terms were ac- 
corded to the Confederates, as to the bearing of 
General Grant, and the officers about him, toward 
General Lee. The interview was brief. Three com- 
missioners upon either side were immediately ap- 
pointed. The agreement to which these six commis- 
sioners acceded is known. 

v< In the mean time, immediately that General Lee 
was seen riding to the rear, dressed more gayly than 
usual, and begirt with his sword, the rumor of imme- 
diate surrender flew like wildfire through the Con- 
federates. It might be imagined that an army, which 
had drawn its last regular rations on the 1st of April, 
and, harassed incessantly by night and day, had been 
marching and fighting till the morning of the 9th, 
would have welcomed any thing like a termination of 
its sufferings, let it come in what form it might. Let 
those who idly imagine that the finer feelings are the 
prerogative of what are called the 'upper classes,' 
learn from this and similar scenes to appreciate 
'common men.' As the great Confederate captain 
rode back from his interview with General Grant, the 
news of the surrender acquired shape and consistency, 
and could no longer be denied. The effect on the 



332 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

worn and battered troops— some of whom had fought 
since April, 1861, and, sparse survivors of hecatombs 
of fallen comrades, had passed unscathed through 
such hurricanes of shot as, within four years, no 
other men had ever experienced — passes mortal de- 
scription. 

" Whole lines of battle rushed up to their beloved 
old chief, and, choking with emotion, broke ranks, and 
struggled with each other to' wring him once more by 
the hand. Men who had fought throughout the war, 
and knew what the agony and humiliation of that 
moment must be to him, strove, with a refinement of 
unselfishness and tenderness which he alone could 
fully appreciate, to lighten his burden and mitigate 
his pain. With tears pouring down both cheeks, 
General Lee at length commanded voice enough to 
say, ' Men, we have fought through the war together. 
I have done the best that I could for you.' Not an 
eye that looked on that scene was dry. Nor was this 
the emotion of sickly sentimentalists, but of rough 
and rugged men, familiar with hardships, danger, and 
death, in a thousand shapes, mastered by sympathy 
and feeling for another which they never experienced 
on their own account. I know of no other passage 
of military history so touching, unless, in spite of the 
melo-dramatic coloring which French historians have 
loved to shed over the scene, it can be found in the 
Adieu de Fontainebleau." ' 

The officers and men were all paroled, not to take 
up arms till regularly exchanged. As Grant knew 

1 I copy this from CoppeVs " Grant and His Campaigns," as I do 

not know from what paper it was taken. 



SHERMAN AND JOHNSTON'S AGREEMENT. 333 

there was no probability that they ever would be 
exchanged, but, on the contrary, that this was, in 
fact, the end of the war, he provided, in the pa- 
roles, that while they remained peaceful, violating no 
law of the United States, they should be protected. 
This was the basis of all the paroles given to the 
Confederate troops ; and it was claimed by Grant, 
and has been conceded by the Government, that the 
rebel soldiers could not, under this parole, be seized, 
tried, or punished, for military offenses, during the 
war. They have not been ; and this immunity from 
punishment, and, in fact, protection by the Govern- 
ment, they owe to the generous and liberal conduct 
of General Grant. No man was more determined to 
put an end to the war, by the destruction of the rebel 
armies, than General Grant; but he had no particle 
of personal or unkind feeling to the people; and, 
while maintaining and enforcing, as far as he could, 
the reconstruction acts of Congress, he has wished 
to see peace, order, and humanity prevail in the con- 
quered States. 

In consequence of these events, a correspondence 
was entered into between Generals Sherman and 
Johnston, which resulted, on the 18th of April, in an 
agreement for the suspension of hostilities, and a 
memorandum for a treaty of peace. How General 
Sherman, or any General, came by power to make 
terms of peace, we have never been informed ; but the 
sagacity and common-sense of Grant avoided this 
difficulty in the beginning. Lee, in his letter to 
Grant, sought to bring him into a treaty of peace; 
but Grant explicitly informed him that he had no 



334 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

power to make peace, but would treat for a surrender. 
This memorandum, signed by Sherman and Johnston, 
is the most extraordinary document which was ever 
put forth in this country ; l but the war gave rise to 
extraordinary acts and delusions, and the errors of 
gallant soldiers should be set down rather to the dis- 
temper of the times than to any intentional disrespect 
of the Government. General Sherman said, in his 
report, that Mr. Lincoln having been assassinated, he 
thought to pay respect to his memory by following 
the policy he felt certain Lincoln would have ap- 
proved. How very much he was mistaken may be 
known by the following copy of instructions from 
Lincoln to Grant : 

"War Department, Washington, March 3, 1865. 
"To Lieutenant-General Grant: 

" The President directs me to say to you that he wishes you to have 
no conference with General Lee, unless it be for the capitulation of 
General Lee's army, or on some minor and purely military matter. He 
wishes me to say that you are not to decide, discuss, or confer upon 
any political question. Such questions the President holds in his own 
hands, and will submit them to no military conferences or conventions. 
Meantime you are to press to your utmost your military advantages. 

"Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of Wary 

That was Lincoln's policy; and nothing could 
better prove his good sense and sagacity. Grant 
hurried off to see Sherman, while Stanton issued a 
peremptory order, disapproving the agreement. Soon 
after, Johnston surrendered, by a military conven- 
tion; so did Kirby Smith, in the West, and Taylor, 
in Louisiana. In a few days more, Davis, having 

1 A copy of that "basis of agreement" may be found in the Ameri- 
can Encyclopedia for 1865, page 68. It undertakes to settle the status 
of the States, the people, and the armies of the Confederates, between 
two Generals ! 



DEATH OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY. 335 

escaped into Georgia, accompanied by two or three 
of the miserable men who had followed his for- 
tunes at Richmond, was also taken by a squadron 
of cavalry. The last acts of this unhappy being 
would be supremely ridiculous, if they had not oc- 
curred in the midst of a tragedy. On the 5 th of 
April, after leaving Richmond, he issued one of those 
bombastic Proclamations, 1 so entirely characteristic 
of his career. He represented Lee as having been 
trammeled by "watching over the approaches" to the 
capital, but now free to move, and strike the enemy, 
and said he (Davis) would never make peace with the 
infamous invaders of Virginia! Could folly go any 
further, or delusion be greater? By the 1st of June 
the last armies of the Southern Confederacy had sur- 
rendered. After all its terrible crimes and sanguinary 
battles, its loud boasts and real valor, its dream of 
imperial greatness, and its visions of morbid am- 
bition, the Southern Confederacy, which had sent its 
embassadors to claim the support of foreign powers, 
which had startled the world, as with the sudden ap- 
pearance of some gigantic creation of the night, as 
suddenly vanished away! The laugh of scorn, which 
had issued from the demoniac Congress at Mont- 
gomery, had been reechoed from the gloomy vaults 
of despair, and was now heard only in dying groans 
from the distant horizon. Were it not for its too 
dreadful realities, we might imagine it to have been 
a creation of Prospero's wand : 

"These our actors, 
As I foretold yoit, were all spirits, and 

1 Davis's Proclamation, dated Danville, April 5, 1865. 



336 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Are melted into air, into thin air; 

And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, 

The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, 

The solemn temples, the great globe itself, 

Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve; 
And, like this unsubstantial pageant faded. 
Leave not a rack behind." 

With the dispersion of armies ended, also, that 
work of beneficence which had raised war in our 
country from the condition of barbarism which, in 
most periods of the world, it has held to the condi- 
tion of civilization, attended with the Christian chari- 
ties. The Sanitary and the Christian Commissions 
had given evidence of substantial progress in the 
very elements of society. They had gone into the 
very midst of disease and danger to comfort the 
soldiers, carry balm to the wounded, and consolation 
to the dying. They will make an illuminated page 
in the histories carried down to posterity, and be 
remembered with gratitude by thousands of hearts 
when the storms of war have long been past. 

Grant, I said, was utterly deficient in a genius for 
proclamations, and when Vicksburg was taken — cer- 
tainly one of the most decisive events of the war — 
made no proclamation, and quietly went on doing his 
duty. But now something must be said, and he said 
it well. He issued Order No. 108, the great point 
of which was its truth. The concluding paragraph 
is this. Addressing the soldiers of the army, he 
said : 

"Your marches, sieges, and battles, in distance, duration, resolu- 
tion, and brilliancy of results, dim the luster of the world's past mili- 
tary achievements, and will be the patriot's precedence in defense of 
liberty and right in all time to come. In obedience to your country's 



NUMBER OF REBELS SURRENDERED. 337 

call, you left your homes and families, and volunteered in its defense. 
Victory has crowned your valor, and secured the purpose of your 
patriotic hearts ; and, with the gratitude of your countrymen, and the 
highest honors a great and free nation can accord, you will soon be 
permitted to return to your homes and families, conscious of having 
discharged the highest duty of American citizens. To achieve these 
glorious triumphs, and secure to yourselves, your fellow-countrymen, 
and posterity, the blessings of free institutions, tens of thousands of 
your gallant comrades have fallen and sealed the priceless legacy with 
their lives. The graves of these a grateful nation bedews with tears, 
honors their memories, and will ever cherish and support their stricken 
families. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General." 

It may be interesting to know how many men 
composed the rebel armies in the last year of the 
war. The following facts, taken from authentic 
sources, will show nearly the truth. The number of 
men surrendered in the different armies amounted to 
174,223, as follows: 

Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by Gen. Lee, . . 27,805 
Army of Tennessee, and others, commanded by Gen. Joseph 

E. Johnston, 31,243 

Army of Gen. Jeff. Thompson, in Missouri, .... 7,978 

Miscellaneous paroles in the Department of Virginia, . . 9,072 

Paroled at Cumberland, Md., and other stations, . . . 9,377 

Paroled by Gen. McCook in Alabama and Florida, . . 6,428 

Army of the Department of Alabama, under Lieut.-Gen. Taylor, 42,293 
Army of the Trans-Mississippi Department, under Gen. E. K. 

Smith 17,686 

Paroled in the Department of Washington, .... 3»39° 
Paroled in Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, 

and Texas, I3>9 22 

Surrendered at Nashville and Chattanooga, Tenn., . . 5,029 

In addition to those surrendered at the close of 
the war, there were in the Federal custody, between 
January 1st and 20th of October of the same year, 
98,802 prisoners of war. 

But to these must be added the killed or disabled 
by wounds. We will suppose only one-third of the 

29 



Killed. 


Disabled. 


14,650 


20,500 


7,660 


4,200 


6,250 


5,800 


4,310 


4,IOO 



338 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

wounded to be disabled or kept from the field, and, 
taking the estimate, results are as follows : 

In Lee's Department, . . . 
In Georgia " ■ • • < 

In Tennessee " • • • 

In all other " .... 

Total, 3 2 > 8 70 34>6oo 

Here are no less than 67,470 men of the rebel 
army killed or totally disabled after Grant crossed 
the Rapidan, in May, 1864. This includes only the 
great battles or sieges. There are, no doubt, some 
thousands of others omitted. Taking the above data, 
we have this result: 

Surrendered in the different armies, . . . I74»3 2 3 

Prisoners, 98,802 

Killed and disabled in the last year, . . . 67,470 



Total 340,595 

This corresponds very well with the statements 
made in one of the last debates of the rebel Con- 
gress, in which the available men were stated at 
various numbers, from 200,000 to 500,000. I suppose 
that, including their guerrillas, they had 300,000 men 
available in the last year of the war. 

But now we must close the scene with what I 
consider one of the finest lessons which the history 
of our country can carry down to posterity. The 
army was an army of volunteers. It was no merce- 
nary army. It was no army of some ambitious con- 
queror. It could be made to fight for no cause not 
its own. When the cause was gained, when the 
enemy left the field, the army had no more to do. 



FINAL REVIEW OF THE GRAND ARMY. 339 

It was composed of citizens. It dreamed of no for- 
eign conquests, and no leader dared to ask its aid 
for any other than a patriotic object. It wanted 
only home. And now the battalions of Sherman, and 
the grand Army of the Potomac, wearied with war, 
march quietly to the capital, to be reviewed by the 
Chief Magistrate. Gay pennons, bright uniforms, 
brilliant dresses, beautiful women, grave senators, and 
noble chiefs receive the war-worn defenders of their 
country. The glorious flag of the nation waves in 
triumph. Shouts rend the heavens. The President 
feelingly thanks the army, and the army peacefully 
returns to the quietude of home. The soldier's dream 
is now true, and he again sees wife, children, and 
home. 



340 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



CHAPTER XV. 

GRANT IN PEACE. 

CRITICISMS ON GRANT — THEIR ERRORS — LOSSES IN THE CAM- 
PAIGNS BEFORE RICHMOND — HIS EDUCATION — HIS ADMINIS- 
TRATIVE ABILITY — HIS INTEGRITY — HIS MORAL QUALITIES — 
ANECDOTES OF HIM — DISBANDMENT AND REORGANIZATION 
OF THE ARMY. 

WE have now pursued the career of Grant 
through long years of war — through weary 
marches and bloody fields — till we find him victorious 
over enemies, and applauded by friends. It is time 
now to review his conduct, as far as we properly may, 
and consider his character as a citizen. It is an old 
adage, de mortuis nil nisi bonnm — to say of the dead 
nothing but good — and of the living one would think 
it was almost equally a practice to say, de vivendis 
nil nisi malum — nothing but evil. The severest criti- 
cism upon public men may safely be allowed, in a free 
country ; but it is evidence, not merely of coarse 
manners, but of positive injustice, when criticism de- 
generates into abuse. I said, in the beginning of this 
volume, that it was not necessary to make General 
Grant either more or less than he is, in order to com- 
mend him to the favor of his countrymen. Saints 
and heroes are rarely found in history ; and, certain 
it is, that I have found them very rare in our time — 



ERRONEOUS CRITICISM OF GRANT. 34 1 

so rare that I think they have not been very com- 
mon in any age of the world. But, however we may 
suspect the most eminent men of faults and weak- 
nesses, it will be admitted, by all just minds, that they 
are entitled to be treated fairly, and if their faults are 
severely condemned, their virtues should be frankly 
admitted. General Grant has been charged with some 
serious faults, both as a general and a citizen. So far 
as it may be done with propriety, I shall make a brief 
comment on these criticisms. 

It has been said, (which, if true, is no crime,) 
that Grant had no genius, and succeeded only by 
pounding. If he had sense to see that pounding was 
necessary, that was more than his superiors or his 
critics seem to have had. Genius, in the popular 
sense, is a rare quality, and, when possessed, is often 
more destructive than it is useful. It is a very dan- 
gerous quality, and it is one which a republican 
Government seldom needs, and, however strange it 
may appear, seldom tolerates. The genius of admin- 
istration is what a republican Government needs, 
and that Grant exhibited in a remarkable degree. 

It is said, again, that Grant, especially in his Rich- 
mond campaign, caused an unnecessary loss of men, 
and succeeded by slaughter. This was exactly what 
the rebels said ; and I remember well that the Rich- 
mond papers boasted that Grant had lost one hund- 
red thousand men in getting to Richmond, and ex- 
claimed against his inhuman butchery. This rebel 
horror was caught up with avidity by the enemies of 
Grant, and has been adopted by ignorant critics. 
Was it true? Had the charge any such foundation 



342 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

as should condemn Grant's military conduct? In 
the first place, it was not true; and in the next, it is 
impossible for any one to say that more or less loss 
was necessary to the capture of Richmond. War is, 
in all its forms, a bloody (I may say most cruel) ne- 
cessity — necessity, I say, because, in this period of the 
world, no war should exist without necessity. There 
was but one alternative presented to the American 
Government — either to dissolve the American Union 
or to maintain its unity by war. The American 
people judged the Union a necessity to freedom and 
civilization, and, therefore, chose war, as a cruel, but 
an inevitable necessity. In this judgment Grant per- 
fectly agreed. From his peaceful home in Galena he 
rushed into the ranks of the volunteers, and rose, by 
a series of unceasing labors and successes, to the 
highest military rank the nation had ever conferred. 
He succeeded by skillful, and, at the same time, un- 
ceasing pursuit of the enemy from post to post, from 
camp to camp, from army to army, till the last armed 
traitor was compelled to surrender. That this was 
done by fighting, by pounding, and by carnage, no 
one denies. Did any sensible man expect to succeed 
by any other means ? These statements were not true. 
The actual losses of life or limb were greatly ex- 
aggerated, and were no greater in our army than in 
that of the rebels. If we can ascertain what the 
losses of killed or wounded in Grant's Virginia cam- 
paign were, and then see what the losses were in 
McClellan's, Burnside's, and Hooker's, we shall have 
the means of making an accurate comparison, and 
determining whether Grant's successful campaign was 



GRANT AND McCLELLANS LOSSES. 343 

any more destructive than their unsuccessful ones. 
This is the true way to determine what was, and 
what was not, necessary to success. In the General 
Reports of the Army, and in a tabular statement in 
the "American Cyclopedia," we have the statistics 
of losses sufficiently accurate. The summary of 
Grant's losses in the Virginia campaign is: 

Killed. Wounded. 

Wilderness, 3> 288 I 9» 2 7 8 

Spottsylvania, 2,296 9.086 

Cold Harbor, I,7°5 9>°42 

Petersburg Mines, .... 4 T 9 x >679 

Hatcher's Run 232 1,062 

Five Forks, i> 200 3* 800 

Miscellaneous 3»375 7> 2 94 

Petersburg assault, . . ~. • i> x 9 8 6,853 

Aggregate, .... I3»7I3 5 8 >°94 

This may fall short a little; but it is near the 
whole loss. Certainly we did not have more than 
80,000 men killed and wounded in Grant's campaign, 
from the 3d of May, 1864, on the Rapidan, to the 
surrender of Lee at Appomattox Court-House, nearly 
a year after. Undoubtedly it was a great loss, though 
fall half the whole number of wounded recovered 

entirely. 

Now let us examine the losses of previous cam- 
paigns : 

r Killed. Wounded. 

McClellan's campaign, . . • 5> 2 9i 23,909 

Burnside's campaign, . . • l i° 2 % 9> io 5 

Hooker's campaign, .... 4,S°o IO > 20C 

Pope's campaign, .... 2,100 4,000 

Meade's campaign, .... 2,837 13 J lS 



Aggregate, 



16,056 60,932 



344 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

Here we see that the commanders of the Army 
of the Potomac had lost more men (and if we include 
sickness a great many more) in two years' useless ex- 
peditions than Grant did in the grand and final cam- 
paign, which terminated the rebel Confederacy. Here 
I leave this branch of military criticism. I do not 
think success a test of merit; but then, no man ought 
to be condemned because he is successful. If any 
one thinks that we ought to have spared the army 
more, and made the war longer, I think the country 
will not agree with him. It would have saved some 
lives on our side, and added incalculably to the 
burdens of the loyal and the destruction of the rebels. 
We may safely leave the military conduct of Grant to 
the judgment of posterity. 

Other criticisms (or, rather, abuse) have been made 
upon Grant. He is said to want education, sobriety, 
and polish. It is positively certain that he did not 
receive a university education ; that he sold wood in 
St. Louis market ; and that he smokes cigars. But 
let us look seriously at this charge. Our only right 
to comment upon it at all, (for we hold all private 
life to be sacred to all honorable minds,) is that his 
acts have made him conspicuous, and that, in the 
Government of the country, he is a public and re- 
sponsible man. The real question, in looking at the 
character of Grant, (the one that concerns the coun- 
try,) is, "What are his qualifications ', morally and in- 
tellectually, for high and important public duties?" 
Any other question than that, we have no right to 
consider. The principal traits of his mind have 
already been brought out by his actions and decisions 



GEN. GRANT'S EARLT EDUCATION. 345 

in the army; but it is well to inquire into his early 
training and known habits, in order to form a just 
judgment on his public character. His earliest train- 
ing was by a Christian mother; and there is no evi- 
dence that that training has ever lost its weight and 
influence. He was also trained to habits of business ; 
and his life at St. Louis and Galena, as well as his 
ceaseless care and watchfulness in the army, prove 
that he never sought for pleasure or for idleness 
where there were duties to perform. His early intel- 
lectual discipline was far better than some persons 
have supposed. Long before he went to West Point 
he had studied the best arithmetics then in use, and 
was fond of mathematics. His father had sent him 
to the best academies ; and it is very evident that he 
had received a good moral and intellectual training 
before he went to West Point. There is nothing un- 
common in this ; but I mention it to contradict au- 
thoritatively the idea that he was an illiterate boy. 
It was not so. What he was at West Point I have 
related. And here let it be said, that in all the solid 
parts of a good education, West Point is not excelled 
by any institution in the world. The department in 
which West Point is deficient is the classical and 
literary, for the reason that the object of the Military 
Academy is to make men good officers, and not clas- 
sical scholars; but there is teaching enough in the 
department of history and ethics not to leave the 
graduates wholly destitute of literary acquirements. 
We find, therefore, that when we look into Grant's 
orders, letters, and dispatches, they show no want 
of common literary ability. He has at least that 



346 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

command of language which enables him to express 
himself clearly. Colonel Badeau states that Grant's 
orders and letters were mainly written by himself, and 
that none of his staff could imitate his style. 1 

In Badeau's "Military History" will be found 
copies of numerous orders, directions, and letters to 
division commanders and quarter-masters, with con- 
stant correspondence with the War Department. 
These prove not only that he formed plans of all his 
own operations, but that he kept a continual watch 
over the details of his army. Read the dispatches 
to his officers at Vicksburg, and his correspondence 
with Halleck, and you can not fail to see that Grant 
possesses great administrative ability ; and this is 
the very kind of ability most necessary to republi- 
can government. 

Notwithstanding all these evidences of skill, talent, 
and discretion, Grant is spoken of as being poor in 
intellect and acquirements ! How many of the public 
men of our country have had more intellect and 
acquirements than Grant? How much better was the 
education of Washington or Jackson? Neither of 
them, as young men, was as well educated as any 
cadet at West Point. But they, as well as all really 
great men, acquired a vast deal by experience, and had 
the original vigor and good sense to apply the knowl- 
edge acquired by experience to the best advantage. I 
admire science and love letters, but I can not con- 
ceal from myself the fact that it is not by such 
acquirements only that our country has attained to 
freedom and greatness. Washington was a Virginia 

badeau's "Military History." 



GRANT'S MORAL QUALITIES. 347 

surveyor ; Adams a poor lawyer of Boston ; Putnam 
a farmer in the field ; and Hamilton a young ad- 
venturer from the West Indies. There were other 
and more highly cultivated men than these in the 
American Congress, but none that did more service. 
We shall always have in our Congress men of high 
cultivation ; but the men of affairs, those who have the 
practical administration of public business, need not 
be men of great science or of refined literary tastes. 
The moral qualities of a public man are, in my 
opinion, of more importance to the country by far 
than the most shining abilities or the most courtly 
manners. In the stern virtues of integrity, of true 
loyalty, of justice, of prudence, of frugality, and of 
obedience to law, the country can have more reliance 
than in the eloquence of Cicero or the genius of 
Napoleon. It is to these homely virtues that God 
has given more of success to men and nations than 
to all the other talents of the human race. These 
were the real talents which gave success to our Rev- 
olutionary ancestors, and founded this Government 
on principles of justice and of freedom. How far 
has General Grant exhibited these virtues ? He has 
never been charged by any one with want of integ- 
rity, which, in these latter times, is evidence that he 
is not suspected of any. Loyalty, obedience to law, 
prudence, were all exhibited by him in the conduct 
of the war. A sense of justice was proved by his 
treatment of the negro, and his uniform kindness to 
his officers. Nor does he seem to have exhibited 
bad temper, or made unreasonable demands, which 
is rather uncommon among officers of the army. I 



348 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

say these things because, having gone over the his- 
tory of his conduct in the service of the Govern- 
ment, these are the impressions left on my mind, and 
seem characteristic of one with whom I am person- 
ally unacquainted. 

Grant seems to have been considerate and gener- 
ous to his officers, but not at all convivial in habits. 
Notwithstanding so many rumors were circulated to 
the contrary, yet all the evidence we have from those 
who knew him best, to those who were lookers-on in 
the army, agrees that he was rather serious in his 
deportment — simple and temperate. The following 
article is written with so much circumstantiality as 
to bear the air of truth, and may serve, in place of 
numerous stories told of him, to illustrate his man- 
ners in the army. It is from a fady correspondent 
of the "Philadelphia Press:" 

"During the first three years of the war I was 
actively identified with the Western branch of the 
Sanitary Commission, and had abundant opportunity 
of judging for myself in regard to the character and 
ability of our generals. During the entire campaign 
of the opening of the Mississippi it was my privilege 
to aid in caring for our noble patriots, both in hos- 
pital and camps, and I have been for weeks together 
where I saw General Grant frequently, heard his 
name constantly, and never did I hear intemperance 
mentioned in connection with it. Facts are stubborn 
things. I will relate a few of the many that came 
directly to my knowledge. In the winter of 1862-63, 
when the army arrived at Memphis, after long, weary 
marching, and trials that sicken the heart to think 



GRANTS TEMPERATE HABITS. 349 

«)f, two-thirds of the officers and soldiers were in 
hospitals. General Grant was lying sick at the Gay- 
oso House. One morning Mrs. Grant came into the 
ladies' parlor, very much depressed, and said the 
medical director had just been to see Mr. Grant, and 
thought he would not be able to go any further if he 
did not stimulate. Said she, 'And I can not persuade 
him to do so. He says he will not die, and he will 
not touch a drop upon any consideration.' In less 
than a week he was on board the advance boat on 
the way to Vicksburg. 

"Again, a few months after, I was on board the 
head-quarters boat at Milliken's Bend, where quite a 
lively gathering of officers and ladies had assembled. 
Cards and music were the order of the evening. 
General Grant sat in the ladies' cabin, leaning upon 
a table covered with innumerable maps and routes to 
Vicksburg, wholly absorbed in contemplation of the 
great matter before him. He paid no attention what- 
ever to what was going on around, neither did any 
one dare to interrupt him. For hours he sat thus, 
till the loved and lamented McPherson stepped up to 
him, with a glass of liquor in his hand, and said, 
'General, this won't do; you are injuring yourself. 
Join with us in a few toasts, and throw this burden 
off your mind.' Looking up, and smiling, he replied, 
' Mac, you know your whisky won't help me to think. 
Give me a dozen of the best cigars you can find, and, 
if the ladies will excuse me for smoking, I think, by 
the time I have finished them, I shall have this job 
pretty nearly planned.' Thus he sat, and, when the 



350 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

company retired, we left him there, still smoking and 
thinking. 

" When the army lay around Vicksburg, during 
that long siege, the time that tried men's souls, I 
watched every movement it was possible for me to 
do, feeling almost certain that he would eventually 
succumb to the custom, alas! too universal among 
the officers. I was in company with a gentleman 
from Chicago, who, while calling upon the General, 
remarked, 'I have some very fine brandy on the boat, 
and, if you will send an orderly with me to the river, 
I will send you a case or two.' ' I am greatly obliged,' 
replied the General, ' but I do not use the article. I 
have a big job on hand, and, though I know I shall 
win, I know I must do it with a cool head. Send all 
the liquor you intend for me to my hospital in the 
rear ; I do n't think a little will hurt the poor fellows 
clown there.' 

"At a celebration on the 22d of February before 
the surrender of Vicksburg, while all around were 
drinking toasts in sparkling champagne, I saw Gen- 
eral Grant push aside a glass of wine, and, taking up 
a glass of Mississippi water, with the remark, 'This 
suits the matter in hand,' drink to the toast, 'God 
gave us Lincoln and liberty ; let us fight for both.' " 

Lincoln and Liberty! In that toast much of 
the real character of Grant is shown. Lincoln and 
liberty were the ideas of the war. Lincoln repre- 
sented the sovereignty of the nation, and liberty was 
its object. When Grant adopted these as his text, he 
entered fully into the spirit, the objects, and the 
principles of the war for unity and freedom. 



REDUCTION OF THE ARMY. 351 

The war had closed, but a great work remained 
to be done. Nearly a million of men were in sonic 
way enrolled in the service of the country. The ex- 
penses were immense. The burdens upon the people 
were unprecedented, and the public debt had grown 
to enormous proportions. The problem before the 
Government was no longer to win battles and subdue 
rebels, but to disband the army, to reduce expenses, 
and reconstruct loyal States from the ruins of the lost 
Confederacy. The task was not easy, the labors great, 
and the patriotism required scarcely less than that 
needed for the most arduous duties of war. On the 
first of March, 1865, there were 602,593 men present 
and available for duty. There were, in general and 
field hospitals, 179,147 sick. Those on detached 
duty, on furlough, or absent, were 180,000. In all, 
there were 965,591 men in service, and recruiting still 
going on. The Government commenced instantly 
the work of depletion and reorganization. In this 
work Grant had, as chief of the army, much to do, 
and probably no important arrangements were made 
without his advice. On April 28, 1865, twenty days 
after the surrender of Lee, Secretary Stanton issued 
an order for the reduction of the expenses of the 
army, and from that day the work of reduction went 
on, till, on the 7th of August, 640,806 men had been 
discharged from service. No country of Europe has 
ever witnessed a scene like this, and, if we were to 
select something from the history of our country to 
illustrate the strength and excellence of republican 
government, we could take nothing so characteristic 
and striking as the raising and reduction of the army. 



352 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

The first blow of rebellious arms against the country 
brought half a million of men into the field, not 
recruited for a regular army, not brought out by 
arbitrary power, not seeking the paths of ambition 
or of glory, but simply volunteers for the love of 
country. And now the last scene has come, and 
these vast armies, returning from the field where 
their valor has conquered rebellion, are reviewed by 
the Chief Magistrate of the nation, and peacefully 
return to their homes. Such is the result of repub- 
lican institutions in bringing out the strength of a 
nation. 

One of the most striking traits of Grant's charac- 
ter exhibited in the war was his knoivledge of men; 
and in the administration of armies, or of govern- 
ments, there is no talent more valuable than this. In 
recording what I have endeavored to trace of his mili- 
tary conduct, I see that there were very few instances 
in which he complained of the conduct of his subor- 
dinates, or had reason to. Where he had his choice 
he almost invariably selected the best materials for 
his work, and was seldom disappointed in them. A 
more enthusiastic, impulsive man, might have had 
many more personally attached followers ; but, on the 
other hand, would have made more enemies, and com- 
mitted greater mistakes. In the reduction of the 
army, in which he must have had a large share, it is 
singular how few complaints were made, and how 
little injustice was done. The great body of the 
army was very willing to return home ; but there 
were, also, many ambitious aspirants for preferment, 
and still more urged forward by their friends. 



REDUCTION OF THE ARMY. 353 

Officially this work of reduction fell chiefly on Mr. 
Stanton, who did it well ; but for two years this re- 
duction and reorganization of the army was going on, 
and in that time there were four persons on whom, 
more than upon any others, the labor fell, and to 
whom the country is greatly indebted for accomplish- 
ing this great business well and thoroughly. These 
were Mr. Stanton, (Secretary of War,) General Grant, 
and the Chairmen of the Military Committees in the 
House and the Senate. 1 

And now we bid farewell to these scenes of 
bloody war, and return to those of peace and pros- 
perity. God has favored this nation as no country 
was ever favored; and I seem to see visions of re- 
stored unity, of a happy people, and of a successful 
example to other nations of the possibility of a per- 
manent Christian Republic. 

'The Chairmen of these Committees were General Schenck and 
General Wilson. 

30 



354 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

GRANT IN POLITICS. 

POLITICAL QUESTIONS OF THE DAY — WHAT THEY ARE — GRANT'S 
PUBLIC CONDUCT IN THEM — HIS VIEWS ON THE GREAT 
ISSUES — ON CONGRESS AND THE PUBLIC — HIS ADMINISTRA- 
TIVE ABILITIES — VIEWS OF THE FATHERS ON THE PRESI- 
DENCY — CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE PRESIDENT. 

IT has been said of Grant, first, that he is ignorant 
of politics ; second, that he has no politics ; and 
third, that he has no opinions. This could not be 
said with truth of any man in the United States, 
much less of an intelligent, educated man, who had 
fought for the Government through the whole of the 
last war. Every man has influences about him, social, 
religious, commercial, and political, which incline him 
to one or the other side of the great questions which 
concern the community in which he lives. Grant, 
therefore, has politics, and he knows something of 
political matters. The questions are, What are the 
politics on which he has opinions ? and what are his 
opinions upon them? There is no uncertainty upon 
these in regard to any of the great issues before the 
country. Let us analyze the subject. What questions 
of politics do we mean ? Those of Europe or Amer- 
ica ? Those of the old Federal and Democratic 



A NEW ERA IN POLITICS. 355 

parties ? Those of the Whigs and Democrats ? Or 
those of the Unionists and Rebels? A moment's 
thought will show any intelligent man that, in regard" 
to the party politics of this country, old things have 
passed away, and all things have become new. The 
war made a revolution, and the results of that revolu- 
tion are accomplished facts. No revolution in Europe 
made such fundamental changes as the abolition of 
American slavery. Slavery entered into the social and 
political life of fifteen States. It was related in poli- 
tics and commerce to all the others. It was imbed- 
ded in the American Constitution. Its abolition has 
torn it out of the Constitution, out of society, and 
out of commerce. That is the first great fact of the 
revolution ; but it is by no means all. The slaves 
became free ; became, by that fact also, constituent 
elements of political society. With or without suf- 
frage, the fact remains that they are a part of the 
free population, which is the basis of representation 
and of popular government. Nor was this all. The 
war, maintained for the defense of slavery, left an 
immense debt, which the nation owes both to the 
citizens of our own country, and to the citizens of 
other countries. Contingent on that fact is the obli- 
gation to pay that debt justly, and to raise taxes to 
meet the interest. To do this, there is the further 
obligation to raise those taxes as justly and expend 
them as frugally as is consistent with the necessities 
and the honor of the country. Lastly, there remains 
the great ruins left by the war. The country was 
united in territory and population, but disunited 
politically. These being immutable facts, which no 



356 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

state of politics coulcl change, there arose from them 
certain political issues. These issues can not be 
avoided, and they can not be put aside for any old 
party divisions. The questions are mainly these : 
i. That of accepting and faithfully recognizing the 
result of the war ; 2. That of reconstruction ; 3. 
That of the faithful payment of the principal and in- 
terest of the public debt ; and 4. That of an econom- 
ical and rigid administration of the public finances. 
These are the great questions of the day. Our for- 
eign policy is settled. No American will permit for- 
eign interference on this continent such as was 
attempted by France. No honest American wishes 
to interfere in the affairs of other nations. No 
American will permit any wanton insult to the flag 
or people of the American republic. Such are the 
questions of domestic and foreign policy, which are 
important at this time ; and on which of these ques- 
tions do the opponents of General Grant suppose 
him ignorant ? The great issue of the war was to 
conquer the rebels, and into that Grant went with 
his heart and soul. But some persons who had well 
and fairly fought for the war, with the whole Demo- 
cratic organization, thought it was entirely right to 
conquer rebels in the field, but was not right to con- 
quer them politically ; and on that arises the political 
conflict of the day. Is there the least doubt about 
Grant's position upon that subject? Has he not 
bowed to and faithfully obeyed all the acts of Con- 
gress on reconstruction ? Did he not sustain Sheri- 
dan? Did he not sustain Stanton? Does he not 
sustain the Tenure of Office Act? If there be an 



GRANT AN ECONOMIST. 357 

honest man in this country, who is noted for his 
obedience to law, and who strictly and consistently 
adheres to the policy of Congress, it is Ulysses S. 
Grant. He does not follow that policy so much 
because it is or is not, in his opinion, the best policy, 
but on the higher and better ground that it is the 

ACT AND POLICY OF THE LAW-MAKING POWER. This 

is the great issue of the day. Shall we have a gov- 
ernment of the people or of the President? Again: 
Grant's whole conduct since the peace proves that 
he is utterly opposed to the restoration of the rebels 
to power, except in such way as Congress, in its 
generosity, may provide. 

Again : as Grant has not himself been suspected 
of any want of integrity, so he does not suspect the 
American people and Government of being any worse 
than himself. He is for the integrity of the Govern- 
ment, in the payment of all its obligations. 

Lastly. Since the return of peace he has been un- 
tiring in his attempt to reduce the expenses of the 
army, and to introduce a rigid economy into all its 
Departments. The few days of his services as Sec- 
retary of War ad iiiterim were signalized by the re- 
duction of many expenditures, and his views on that 
subject have been fully proved by his conduct. 

It is unnecessary to go into farther inquiries into 
his political opinions. If a public man be not honest 
in his character, it will be in vain to estimate his 
future conduct by his past opinions. He has a right 
to change them, and the vows written on the sand 
will be washed away by the first waves of interest 
and ambition. 



358 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

From what is known to the public, and what I 
have recorded in this book, I infer and assert that on 
the great questions now before the people, Grant 
holds these views: 

i. That he accepts all the results of the war, and 
is opposed to the restoration of rebels to power, un- 
less by act of Congress. 

2. That he is in favor of executing all the laws of 
Congress, and will consider all laws Constitutional till 
declared otherwise by the Supreme Court. 

3. That he will conform to the Tenure of Office 
Act as long as it is in existence. 

4. That he is in favor of the reconstruction of the 
States on the plan of Congress. 

5. That he is in favor of maintaining the honor, 
credit, and faith of the Government. 

6. That he is in favor of the most rigid economy 
in all departments. 

These principles substantially cover the whole 
ground of our political conflict. In fact, from April, 
1 86 1, to the present time, there have been but two 
parties and two issues before the country. The one 
either directly aided or sympathized with the rebels, 
and constantly has endeavored to restore them to 
power. The other endeavored to destroy their power 
in war, and prevent its restoration in peace ; and be- 
tween these two there is no middle ground. General 
Grant has consistently opposed the rebels, and main- 
tained the Government from first to last. He will 
take no backward steps; he will support the Con- 
gress and the Government of the United States. If 
this be not politics, what is? What politics had 



PATRONAGE OF THE PRESIDENT. 359 

Washington when the war of the Revolution ended ? 
Was it not to maintain the results of that Revolution ? 
And who has ever paid more respect to the acts and 
opinions of Congress than did George Washington ? 
The idea that a President is deliberately to oppose 
and counteract the acts and opinions of Congress is 
wholly a modern one. It is contrary to the genius 
and spirit of the Constitution, and it will be well 
when we cease to look upon the President as the 
fountain of power and patronage. 

Since the foundation of the Government the pat- 
ronage of the President has been increasing. When 
the Constitution was formed, there were scarcely three 
millions of people in the United States. The increase 
since then has been thir teen-fold! But the number 
of offices has increased at a more rapid rate ; and the 
necessity of raising an internal revenue, a necessity 
which is not likely soon to cease, has multiplied them 
yet more. The land is almost literally covered with 
Government officers, and these officers are all looking 
to Washington as their Mecca, and the President as 
their Prophet. In an evil hour the first Congress, 
acting in the presence of Washington, whom they re- 
garded as the political Savior of their country, and 
with reference to the small number of the people, de- 
cided that the President had the power of removal 
from office. At that time it did no harm, nor for the 
terms of the first three or four Presidents. Jefferson, 
with whom the old Democratic party came into power, 
made a few removals, and was censured for it by his 
opponents. It was on that occasion that he made 
the celebrated reply, "Few die a?id none resign" as an 



360 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

apology for the removals he had made. We should 
remember that, up to the administration of John 
Quincy Adams, this power of removal was never 
assumed to be exercised for mere party purposes, 
and for that reason was never really injurious. The 
right of the President to select his own heads of 
departments, (commonly called his Cabinet,) and the 
principal subordinates in the revenue, was not ques- 
tioned, for reasons of propriety. After the formation 
of new parties, in the time of Jackson, the removal 
of old officers and the appointment of partisans was 
demanded as a party right. In fact, the number of 
active partisans and aspirants who were engaged in 
party warfare became too numerous and powerful to 
be disregarded. They demanded the offices of the 
country from the President whom they had elected. 
The result is, that for thirty years, on the incom- 
ing of a new administration, Washington has been 
crowded with office-seekers, entering, as a victorious 
army would a conquered city, and demanding of the 
President, not merely the political control, but the 
official patronage of the Government. This fact had 
become so obvious and so dangerous, in the time of 
Mr. Van Buren and his successors, that nearly all the 
great men of that day denounced it. Mr. Calhoun, 
Judge McLean, Clay, and Webster, all denounced 
and treated as dangerous this fearfully enormous 
power of patronage. Mr. Calhoun called it " the co- 
hesive power of public plunder." Something may be 
abated from these denunciations by the fact that they 
were uttered by the opponents of the existing admin- 
istration ; but it was then, and is now, the conviction 



TENURE-OF-OFFICE ACT. 3G1 

of calm and enlightened statesmen, that the immense 
increase of official patronage was a great, growing, 
and dangerous evil. How to lessen it, after half a 
century of usage, and to place the great offices of the 
country more nearly within reach of the people, was 
a problem which seemed almost impossible of so- 
lution. There was but one way. The Constitution 
has made the appointment of officers to depend on 
the "advice and consent of the Senate," and the 
Senate is the representative of the States, and, indi- 
rectly, of the people. Removal obviously ought to be 
made by the same power which appoints. Hence 
Congress passed what is called the "Tenure-of -Office 
Bill!' If this act continues in force, it makes re- 
movals depend on the consent of the Senate. General 
Grant's position on this act is, as it is on all laws, 
that an act of Congress is the law till the Supreme 
Court pronounces it unconstitutional. This is the 
true ground. To admit that any man in the country 
may violate laws because he thinks them unconsti- 
tutional, would be to make law a mockery, and give 
the power of revolution to every one who chooses to 
exercise it. Nor is it at all certain that the Supreme 
Court will choose to pronounce it a purely political 
act, or that the nation will justify any such proceed- 
ing. Hence the Tenure-of-Office Act must, for the 
present, remain the law of the land ; to which Grant 
fully assents while it is in existence, and which he 
will cheerfully enforce, should it ever be his duty to 
act upon it. 

Grant's published views and opinions on this 
subject were brought out fully in the course of his 

31 



362 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

administration and correspondence while acting as 
Secretary of War ad interim. It has been said that 
Grant never speaks his opinions ; or, in the phrase of 
the day, is reticent on all subjects. There is no 
more truth in this than in other slanders which have 
been so freely uttered against him. When should a 
general of the army utter his political opinion ? Cer- 
tainly, when his duties, his position, or his relations 
to public affairs demand it, and not till then. No 
political body has, I believe, asked Grant for his 
opinions ; and, until they do, it may be safely assumed 
that they are- willing to accept his acts for his words. 
But, on every important issue of the day, he has given 
his opinions. Let us take them up as he has given 
them : 

1. As to the results of the war in relation to the 
negro. The errand fact in relation to that is the abo- 
lition of slavery. In the midst of the war, in that 
great campaign round Vicksburg, Grant wrote to Mr. 
Washburn, the representative in Congress from the 
Galena District: 

" I have never been an antislavery man, but I try 
to judge justly of what I see. I made up my mind, 
when this war commenced, that the North and South 
could only live together, in peace, as one nation, and 
they could only be one nation by being a free nation. 
Slavery, the corner-stone of the so-called Confeder- 
acy, is knocked out, and it will take more men to 
keep black men slaves than to put down the rebel- 
lion. Much as I desire peace, I am opposed to any 
peace till this question of slavery is forever settled." 
This was decisive of his views on the slavery 



GRANT ON CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. 363 

question. In 1864 he supported Abraham Lincoln 
for President, declaring that his defeat would be a 
calamity to the country. 

When Congress came to act on the questions of 
protecting the loyal blacks and whites, securing the 
equal rights of all, and restoring the rebel States to 
all their practical relations, Grant was in full accord 
with Congress. It is known that among the most 
strenuous in carrying out the views of Congress was 
General Philip Sheridan. When the President became 
hostile to Sheridan on this account, Grant indorsed 
Sheridan in a letter. Senator Wilson says: 

"When the pending Constitutional amendment 
was before Congress, Grant was for its submission to 
the people ; and, when it was submitted, he urged the 
leading men of the rebel States to vote for its adop- 
tion. After its rejection by the rebel Legislatures, he 
pressed Southern men, who sought his advice, to re- 
consider their action, adopt it, and give suffrage to the 
freedmen. To leading Southern men he said: 'You 
must look to Congress. The Republicans have the 
power; consult them. Do not seek the counsels of 
men in the North who opposed the war. The people 
will never trust that class of men with power. The 
more you look to them for advice, the more exacting 
Congress will be, and ought to be. The rejection of 
the amendment, and the legislation against the freed- 
men, will cause Congress to require universal suffrage, 
and you should at once give it.'" 

Observe, that Grant told them that, if they rejected 
the counsels of the Republicans, the more exacting 
Congress would be, and the more exacting tJuy ought 



364 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

to be; and this in view, as he said, of the coming event 
of universal suffrage. On this subject, therefore, there 
is no doubt. Grant accepts, and, as far as he can, will 
enforce, the results of the war in the abolition of slav- 
ery, the political equality of the freedmen, and the 
bringing back of the rebel States under the acts and 
policy of Congress. 

2. On the 1 2th of August, 1867, Grant was ap- 
pointed Secretary of War ad interim, on the attempted 
removal of Stanton. He remained such till the sub- 
ject of Stanton's removal was acted upon by the Sen- 
ate, and, on the refusal of the Senate to advise or 
consent to that act, Grant quietly gave up his office 
to Stanton. The President asserted that this was 
done contrary to an agreement between himself 
and General Grant. This assertion Grant positively 
denied. A discussion and correspondence ensued, 
which is important on several accounts, and which I 
will analyze here, in order to bring out some of 
Grant's characteristics. 

February 4, 1868, Secretary Stanton communi- 
cated to the Senate copies furnished by Grant of his 
correspondence with the President, of which the fol- 
lowing are extracts : 

GENERAL GRANT TO PRESIDENT JOHNSON. 

"Head-quarters Army of the United States, \ 
"Washington, D. C, January 25, 1868. J 

u To His Excellency, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States: 

« sir : — On the 24th inst. I requested you to give me, in writing, the 
instructions which you had previously given me verbally, not to obey 
any oidcr from Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, unless I knew 
it came from yourself To this written request I received a message 
that has left doubt in my mind of your intention. To prevent any 
possible misunderstanding, therefore, I renew the request that you will 



GENERAL GRANT TO THE PRESIDENT. 365 

give me written instructions, and until they are received, will suspend 
action on your verbal ones. I am compelled to ask these instructions 
in writing, in consequence of the many gross misrepresentations affecting 
my personal honor circulated through the press for the last fortnight, 
purporting to come from the President, of a conversation which 
occurred either with the President privately in his office, or in Cab- 
inet meeting. What is written admits of no misunderstanding. In 
view of the misrepresentation referred to, it will be well to state the 
facts in the case : 

" Some time after I assumed the duties of Secretary of War ad 
interim, the President asked my views as to the course Mr. Stanton 
would have to pursue, in case the Senate should not concur in his 
suspension, to obtain possession of his office. My reply was, in sub- 
stance, that Mr. Stanton would have to appeal to the Courts to reinstate 
him, illustrating my position by citing the grounds I had taken in the 
case of the Baltimore Police Commissioners. In that case I did not 
doubt the technical right of Governor Swann to remove the old Com- 
missioners and appoint their successors. As the old Commissioners 
refused to give up, however, I contended that no resource was left but 
to appeal to the courts. Finding that the President was desirous of 
keeping Mr. Stanton out of office, whether sustained in the suspension 
or not, I stated I had not looked particularly into the Tenure of Office 
Bill, but that what I had stated was on general principles, and if I 
should change my mind in this particular case, would inform him of 
the fact 

"Subsequently, on reading the Tenure of Office Bill closely, I found 
I could not, without violation of law, refuse to vacate the office of Sec- 
retary of War the moment Mr. Stanton was reinstated by the Senate, 
even though the President ordered me to retain it, which he never did. 
Taking this view of the subject, and learning, on Saturday, the nth 
test., that the Senate had taken up the subject of Mr. Stanton's suspen- 
sion, after some conversation with Lieut.-Gen. Sherman and some 
members of my staff, in which I stated that the law left me no discretion 
as to my action, should Mr. Stanton be reinstated, and that I intended 
to inform the President, I went to the President for the sole purpose of 
making this decision known, and did make it so known. In this I 
fulfilled the promise made in our last preceding conversation on the 

subject. 

"The President, however, instead of accepting my view of the 
requirements of the Tenure of Office Bill, contended that he had sus- 
pended Mr. Stanton under authority given by the Constitution, and 
that the same authority did not preclude him from reporting, as an act 
of courtesy, his reasons for the suspension, to the Senate ; that having 



366 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

been appointed under authority given by the Constitution, and not 
under an act of Congress, I could not be governed by the act. 

" I stated that the law was binding on me, Constitution or not, till 
set aside by the proper tribunal. An hour was consumed, each reitera- 
ting his views on this subject, till, it getting late, the President said he 
would see me again. I did not agree to call again on Monday, nor at 
any other definite time, nor was I sent for by the President till the 
following Tuesday. 

"From the nth inst., to the Cabinet meeting on the 14th inst., a 
doubt never entered my mind about the President fully understanding 
my position ; namely, That if the Senate refused to concur in the sus- 
pension of Mr. Stanton, my powers as Secretary of War ad interim 
would cease, and Mr. Stanton's right to resume at once the functions 
of his office, would, under the law, be indisputable ; and I acted ac- 
cordingly." 

Now, no matter what the misunderstanding with 
the President was, there are certain facts in regard 
to Grant established here. I. Grant said, in the very 
outset, that the law was binding so far that Mr. Stan- 
ton could not be ousted till an appeal had been made 
to the courts. This he illustrated by his former ac- 
tion in the case of the Police Commissioners. 2. He 
examined the Tenure of Office Act, and found that 
he could not remain in office after the Senate refused 
to consent to Stanton's removal. Grant's position, 
then, is that all laws are to be obeyed till the courts 
have acted upon them. 

GENERAL GRANT TO THE PRESIDENT. 

"Head-quarters Army of the United States, ) 
"Washington, Jcuiuary 24, 1S68. ) 

"His Excellency, Andmu Johnson, President of the United States : 

"Sir: — I have the honor very respectfully to request to have in 
writing the order which the President gave me verbally on Sunday, the 
19th inst., to disregard the orders of the Hon. E. M. Stanton as Secre- 
tary of War, till I knew from the President himself that they were his 
orders. 

11 1 have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"U. S. Grant, General." 



GENERAL GRANT TO THE PRESIDENT. 367 

THE PRESIDENT'S INDORSEMENT. 

" The following is the indorsement of the above note : 
" As requested in this communication, General Grant is instructed in 
writing not to obey any order from the War Department assumed to be 
issued by the direction of the President, unless such order is known by 
the General commanding the armies of the United States to have been 
authorized by the Executive. Andrew Johnson. 

"January 20, 1868." 

GENERAL GRANT TO THE PRESIDENT. 

"Head-quarters Army of the United States, j 
"Washington, D. C, January 30, 1868. J 

"His Excellency, Andrew Johnson, President: 

» Str : — I have the honor to acknowledge the return of my note of 
the 24th inst., with your indorsement thereon, that I am not to obey any 
order from the War Department, assumed to be issued by order of the 
President, unless such order is known by me to be authorized by the 
Executive, and, in reply thereto, to say that I am informed by the Sec- 
retary of War that he has not received from the Executive any order or 
instruction, limiting or impairing his authority to issue orders to the 
army, as has heretofore been his practice, under the laws and custom 
of the Department. 

" While this authority to the War Department is not countermanded, 
it will be satisfactory evidence to me that any orders issued from the 
War Department by direction of the President, are authorized by the 
Executive. 

" I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" U. S. Grant, General:'' 

The point of this correspondence is this : the Pres- 
ident orders Grant to disobey orders received from 
Stanton, unless they were known to be authorized by 
him. Grant goes to the War Department, and finds 
that the President has not limited Stanton's authority, 
and hence, that any orders issued from the War De- 
partment are presumed to be from the President. 

The President answered Grant, differing with him 
as to the purport of their conversation, and charging 
Grant substantially with having deceived him. The 
letter contains this paragraph : 



368 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

"You failed, however, to fulfill the engagement, 
and on Tuesday notified me in writing of the receipt 
of your official notification of the action of the Senate 
in reference to Mr. Stanton, and at the same time in- 
formed me that, according to the act regulating the 
tenure of certain civil offices, your functions of Sec- 
retary of War ad interim ceased from the moment. 
At receipt of notice, you thus, in disregard of the 
understanding between us, vacated the office without 
having given notice of your intent to do so. It is 
but just to say, however, that in your communication 
you claim you did inform me of your purpose, and 
thus fulfilled the promise made in our last preceding 
conversation on the subject." 

The President thus gives his testimony to two 
facts — that Grant, on being notified of the Senate's 
action, promptly obeyed the law ; and that he claimed 
to have fulfilled his promise to the President. The 
President, however, declared he had been deceived 
by Grant's not meeting him at a subsequent confer- 
ence, to notify him that he should deliver up the 
office, and appealed to the testimony of several mem- 
bers of the Cabinet. 

In his answer to the President, Grant was yet 
more explicit. 

GENERAL GRANT TO PRESIDENT JOHNSON. 

"Head-quarters Army cf the United States, ) 
"Washington, D. C, February 3, 1868. ) 

" To His Excellency, Andrew Johnson, President: 

" Sir : — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your commu- 
nication of the 31st ult., in answer to mine of the 28th ult. After a 
careful reading and comparison of it with the article in the ' Intelligencer ' 
of the 15th ult., and the article over the initials 'J. B. S.,' in the 'New 
York World' of the 27th ult., purporting to be based upon your state- 



GENERAL GRANT TO THE PRESIDENT. 369 

ment, and that of the members of the Cabinet therein named, I find it 
to be but a reiteration, only somewhat more in detail, of the many and 
gross misrepresentations contained in these articles, and which my 
statement of facts, set forth in my letter of the 24th ult., was intended 
to correct ; and herein I reassert the correctness of my statements in 
that letter, any thing in yours in reply to the contrary notwithstanding. 

" I confess my surprise that the Cabinet officers referred to should 
so greatly misapprehend the facts in the matter of admissions alleged 
to have been made by me at the Cabinet meeting on the 14th ult., as to 
suffer their names to be made the basis of the charges in the newspaper 
article referred to, or agree to the accuracy, as you affirm they do, of 
your account of what occurred at that meeting. 

" You know we parted on the nth ult., without any promise, on my 
part, expressed or implied, to the effect that I would hold on to the 
office of Secretary of War ad interim, against the action of the Senate, 
or declining to do so, would surrender it to you before such action was 
had, or that I would see you again, at any fixed time, on the subject. 

" The performance of the promises alleged to have been made by 
me, would have involved a resistance of the law, and an inconsistency 
with the whole history of my connection with the suspension of Mr. 
Stanton. From our conversations, and my written protest of August I, 
1867, against the removal of Mr. Stanton, you must have known that 
my greatest objection to his removal was the fear that some one would 
be appointed in his stead, who would, by opposition to the laws relating 
to the restoration of the Southern States to their proper relations to the 
Government, embarrass the army in the performance of the duties espe- 
cially imposed upon it by the laws, and that it was to prevent such an 
appointment that I accepted the appointment of Secretary of War ad 
interim, and not for the purpose of enabling you to get rid of Mr. Stan- 
ton, by withholding it from him in opposition to law, or, not doing 
so myself, surrender to one who, as the statement and assumption in 
your communication plainly indicate, was sought. And it was to avoid 
this danger, as well as to relieve you from the personal embarrassment 
in which Mr. Stanton's reinstatement would place you, that I urged the 
appointment of Governor Cox, believing it would be agreeable to you 
and also to Mr. Stanton, satisfied, as I was, that the good of the coun- 
try and not the office was what the latter desired." 

This paragraph contains another most important 
fact; that on the 1st of August, 1867, Grant pro- 
tested against the removal of Stanton, and that be- 
cause he feared the appointment of some one who was 
opposed to the laws of Congress for the restoration of 



370 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

the Southern States, and who would embarrass the 
officers of the army in the performance of their 
duties. 

In conclusion, Grant said: 

" And now, Mr. President, when my honor as a soldier, and integrity 
as a man, have been so violently assailed, pardon me for saying that I can 
but regard this whole matter, from beginning to end, as an attempt to 
involve me in the resistance of the law for which you hesitated to as- 
sume the responsibility, in order thus to destroy my character before the 
country. I am in a measure confirmed in this conclusion by your recent 
orders, directing me to disobey orders from the Secretary of War, my 
superior and your subordinate, without having countermanded his au- 
thority, whom I am to disobey. With assurance, Mr. President, that 
nothing less than a vindication of my personal honor and character 
could have induced this correspondence on my part, 

"I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"U. S. GRANT, General^ 

Grant here charges upon the President what all 
intelligent men must have seen — that this was an 
attempt on his part, in a matter in which he hesitated 
to assume the responsibility, to involve Grant in a 
resistance of the law, and to destroy his character 
before the country." This was honestly said, and 
to its truth all the events of the day bore witness. 
A soldier, who is a true soldier, is always sensitive 
to his honor and his character. Hence Grant was 
indignant at an attempt to make him appear to do 
what of all things was most abhorrent to his charac- 
ter — an act in disobedience of law. 

On February nth, the President replied to Gen- 
eral Grant, taking issue with him on matters of fact, 
and putting in the testimony of several Cabinet offi- 
cers. In the course of this reply the President has 
this paragraph : 

"You say that a performance of the promises 



GRANT'S POSITION ON RECONSTRUCTION. 37 1 

alleged to have been made by you to the President 
would have involved 'a resistance to law, and an in- 
consistency with the whole history of my connection 
with the suspension of Mr. Stanton.' You then state 
that you had fears the President would, on the re- 
moval of Mr. Stanton, appoint some one in his place 
who would embarrass the army in carrying out the 
Reconstruction acts, and add: 'It was to prevent 
such an appointment that I accepted the office of 
Secretary of War ad interim, and not for the purpose 
of enabling you to get rid of Mr. Stanton by my 
withholding it from him in opposition to the law, or 
not doing so myself, surrendering it to one who 
would/" 

Now it is this very point that, we should remem- 
ber, as clearly proved, not only on the testimony of 
General Grant, but of the President himself, that 
Grant was in favor of the acts of Congress ; that he 
would not disobey them ; and that he would not be made 
the instrument of thwarting them by aiding the Presi- 
dent. The position of Grant, therefore, on the acts 
of Reconstruction can not be mistaken. He was for 
crushing the Rebellion, not merely by armies in the 
field, but by such acts of reconstruction as would pre- 
vent the rebel element from regaining an ascendency 
in the Government. 

In regard to the controversy as to an agreement 
with the President, and its non-fulfillment, the evi- 
dence seems to show that it was a misunderstanding 
on the President's part as to a subsequent meeting 
on the subject. This appears from the evidence of 
Mr. Seward, who says: 



3/2 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

" General Grant admitted that it was his expecta- 
tion, or purpose, to call upon you on Monday. Gen- 
eral Grant assigned reasons for the omission. He 
said that he was in conference with General Sher- 
man ; that there were many little matters to be 
attended to ; he had conversed upon the matter of 
the incumbency of the War Department with General 
Sherman, and expected that General Sherman would 
call upon Monday. My own mind suggested a fur- 
ther explanation, but I do not remember whether it 
was mentioned or not ; namely : it was not supposed 
by General Grant, on Monday, that the Senate would 
decide the question so promptly as to anticipate fur- 
ther explanation between yourself and him, if delayed 
beyond that day. 

" General Grant made another explanation, that 
he was engaged on Sunday with General Sherman, 
and, I think, also on Monday, in regard to the War 
Department, (with a hope, though he did not say so,) 
in an effort to procure an amicable settlement of the 
affair of Mr. Stanton, and still hoped it would be 
brought about." 

Supposing this to be a misunderstanding on either 
or both sides, it is, in a public point of view, of lit- 
tle consequence. The point established most clearly 
is, that Grant sympathized with Congress, and in- 
tended to obey their acts and pursue their policy. 
The object of the President was to defeat that policy, 
and to secure his own ; and what the correspondence 
most emphatically brought out was, that Grant was- 
against the President's policy, and in favor of that 
of Congress. 



GRANTS FINAL REPLY. 373 

General Grant made a final reply on February 
nth, which closed the correspondence: 

"Head-Quarters Army of the United States, ) 
"Washington, D. C, February n, 1S68. J 

u His Excellency, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States : 

" Sir, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your com- 
munication of the 10th instant, accompanied by the statements of five 
Cabinet ministers, of their recollections of what occurred in the Cabinet 
meeting on the 14th January. Without admitting any thing contained 
in these statements, when they differ from any thing heretofore stated 
by me, I propose to notice only the portion of your communication 
wherein I am charged with insubordination. 

" I think it will be plain to the reader of my letter of the 30th of 
January, that I did not propose to disobey any legal order of the Presi- 
dent distinctly given, but only gave an interpretation of what would be 
regarded as satisfactory evidence of the President's sanction to orders 
communicated by the Secretary of War. I will say here that your letter 
of the 10th instant contains the first intimation I have had that you did 
not accept my interpretation. 

" Now for the reasons for giving that interpretation : It was clear to 
me, before my letter of January 30th was written, that I, the person 
having more public business to transact with the Secretary of War than 
any other of the President's subordinates, was the only one who had 
been instructed to disregard the authority of Mr. Stanton, where his 
authority was derived as agent of the President. On the 27th of Janu- 
ary I received a letter from the Secretary of War (copy herewith) di- 
recting me to furnish an escort to the public treasure from the Rio 
Grande to New Orleans, etc., at the request of the Secretary of the 
Treasury to him. I also send two other inclosures, showing a recogni- 
tion of Mr. Stanton as Secretary of War by both the Secretary of the 
Treasury and the Postmaster-General, in all of which cases the Secre- 
tary of War had to call upon me to make the orders requested, or give 
the information desired, and where his authority to do so is derived, in 
my view, as agent of the President. With an order so clearly ambiguous 
as that of the President's, here referred to, it was my duty to inform the 
President of my interpretation of it, and to abide by that interpretation 
till I received other orders. 

"Disclaiming any intention, now or heretofore, of disobeying any 
legal order of the President distinctly communicated, 

" I remain, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" U. S. Grant, General." 



374 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

This closed the correspondence, and no friend of 
General Grant's will wish to withhold it from the 
pages of history. 

3. It remains only to notice Grant's position on 
the finances of the country. In his administration 
of the War Department, as I have said, he immedi- 
ately retrenched all possible expense, and showed a 
great desire for economy. The same spirit which 
made him earnest for the supremacy of the Govern- 
ment during the war, makes him earnest for the sup- 
port of the National credit, and General Grant does 
not withhold his opinion that the National faith and 
integrity should be sustained to the utmost extent. 
He is for sustaining the credit of the country, and, 
for this purpose, exercising the most rigid economy. 

While I am writing these pages it seems quite 
manifest that Grant will be nominated for the Presi- 
dency by one of the great parties of the country. 
Looking to that possible event, we may look, for a 
moment, at some of the objections made to him. 
Some persons seem to have the idea that he lacks 
the education or the business qualities which a Presi- 
dent ought to have. Those who read this volume 
will hold no such opinion, for it is impossible to 
look upon his long and successful career at the head 
of great armies, at his letters, dispatches, and orders, 
without seeing at once that such a career is impossi- 
ble without education and talent. An education at 
West Point is the very best the country affords. If it 
be said he wants literary ability, we need only refer to 
this correspondence with the President ; and, if more 



HIS ADMINISTRATIVE ABILITY, 375 

evidence be required, it may be found in his letters 
and dispatches throughout the war. What, then, is 
wanting ? It can not be prudence, discretion, loyalty, 
or integrity, for if ever man came through a fiery or- 
deal safely in these particulars Grant has. In what 
respect, in any of these qualities, does he fall short 
of Mr. Monroe, who was eight years a most popular 
and successful President of the United States? The 
quality most necessary for a President, after the moral 
qualities, is administrative ability. And has not Grant 
given evidence of the highest ability in the adminis- 
tration of affairs ? If any one has doubts on this sub- 
ject, he may refer to Colonel Badeau's "Military His- 
tory of Grant," and read the numerous letters and 
dispatches concerning the conduct of the war. It is 
impossible to be a great general without being a great 
administrator. 

There are some persons, in fact a great number, 
who suppose that a President of the United States, 
occupying, perhaps, the most important executive 
office in the world, must be a man of shining quali- 
ties, whose genius, or manners, or dignity should com- 
mand the admiration of mankind. But this has not 
been the opinion of those most competent to judge, 
nor has it been the practice of the American people, 
nor can such Presidents be easily found. Certainly, 
Monroe, and Van Buren, and Polk were not men of 
this description. When I was a student at law in 
Litchfield, Conn., Oliver Wolcott, who had been Sec- 
retary of the Treasury under Washington, was Gov- 
ernor of the State, and resident in the village. I used 



376 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

frequently to visit him, and converse on public affairs. 
He was a plain man, but thoroughly acquainted with 
the Revolutionary period. It was then a time of 
political calm, (1824,) and Mr. Adams, Mr. Calhoun, 
and Mr. Clinton were talked of for the Presidency. 
These were all, in some sense, men of genius — bril- 
liant men. I was looking for men of illustrious quali- 
ties, and, on a bright summer afternoon, we talked 
over the subject. Governor Wolcott said that "it was 
a mistake to look for men of genius in the Govern- 
ment ; that the administration of government did not 
require genius or eloquence, but plain business talents, 
with integrity and fidelity." Said he, "There is old 
S , in Pennsylvania, would make as good a Presi- 
dent as any man." I was struck with surprise, for I 

recollected S as industrious, and full of statistics, 

but as not at all representing the ideal of an illustri- 
ous man. I went away with my admiration for genius 
undiminished, and rejoiced in the election of Mr. 
Adams. It has turned out that the country has had 
Presidents whom it would gladly have exchanged for 

old S , and I earnestly hope it may never have 

worse. 

The moral qualities are far the highest ; and if we 
can get a man of unimpeachable integrity, who is 

FAITHFUL TO THE COUNTRY, OBEDIENT TO LAW, RE- 
SPECTFUL TO RELIGION, and LOYAL IN THE FIERY CON- 
FLICT of arms, we shall have secured enough, at least, 
to hope for a successful administration in the times of 
trial and of trouble which the country has yet evidently 
to pass through. The patriot will believe in its wel- 



CONCLUSION. 



377 



fare. The Christian will do more. He will not be- 
lieve that God has brought the Nation through great 
calamities only to cast it away on shallow sands. He 
will hope and believe that the great Christian Re- 
public will long survive, to be the Defense of Liberty 
and the Leader of Nations. 



LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 



LIFE 



OF 



SCHUYLER COLFAX. 



CHAPTER I. 

BORN IN NEW YORK — GOES TO SCHOOL — IS CLERK — GOES TO 
INDIANA — DEPUTY AUDITOR — REPORTER OF THE SENATE- 
EDITOR OF ST. JOSEPH'S REGISTER — WHIG IN POLITICS — 
ADOPTS THE ANTISLAVERY DOCTRINES — ELECTED TO 
CONGRESS — SPEAKS AGAINST THE NEBRASKA BILL — RE- 
ELECTED. 

SCHUYLER COLFAX is a descendant of the 
Revolutionary stock. His grandfather, General 
William Colfax, was Captain of General Washington's 
body-guard, through the Revolutionary war. His 
grandmother was Hester Schuyler, of the old New 
York family of Schuylers, and a cousin of General 
Philip Schuyler. His father was an officer of one 
of the New York city banks, and died before his son 
was born. Schuyler is an only son, and was born in 
a house in North Moore Street, near West Broad- 
way, in the city of New York, March 23, 1823. ' He 
went to a common school in New York, was always 

''Putnam's Magazine, June, 1 868. 



384 LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

at the head of his class, and finished his education at 
the remarkably early age of ten years. But this is 
speaking in common parlance, and in a mistaken 
sense ; for education is never ended, and there are 
some young men who understand this. Of these was 
Mr. Colfax, who, as we shall see, carried on his edu- 
cation for himself, in the then backwoods of Indiana. 
His school-life then ended, because, when he was 
ten years old, his mother married again, to a Mr. 
Matthews, who kept a store in New York. The next 
three years were spent in his step-father's store.' The 
family were not rich, and therefore did what so many 
thousands did before them, emigrated to the West. In 
1836, when Schuyler was thirteen years of age, they 
moved, going through Michigan, with all their worldly 
goods in a wagon. They settled at New Carlisle, 
St. Joseph's county, Indiana. At that time this re- 
gion was comparatively a wilderness, although it now 
blooms with the beauty of a rich soil, cultivated by 
the hand of Industry. Here, for thirty-two years, has 
been his real home, although exiled most of the time 
by the duties of public office conferred on him by 
his fellow-citizens. Five years after he went there, 
his step-father, Mr. Matthews, was elected County 
Auditor, and appointed him a deputy. The County 
Auditor's office in the West is a pretty good school 
for a young man to learn general business in, and es- 
pecially any thing about lands. Schuyler soon became 
master of all the usages and precedents relating to 
the assessment of lands, the laying out of roads, and 
building of county bridges ; in all which learning he 

1 Ladies' Repository, September, 1867. 



REPORTER OF THE SENATE. 385 

was deemed high authority. 1 But what became of 
him in the five years before ? Mr. Colfax is called a 
"printer's boy," but there is no evidence of that at 
all. 2 After he went to New Carlisle, he served again 
as clerk, in that village, till, in his eighteenth year, he 
went into Mr. Matthews's office as Deputy Auditor. 
Before there is any evidence of his being a printer, 
Mr. Colfax had an education of another sort, which 
was probably the very cause of his subsequent suc- 
cess in public life. While in the Auditor's office the 
young men got up a Debating Society, and resolved 
themselves into a Moot Legislature, where Schuyler 
figured as "the gentleman from Newton county." 3 
Here, of course, the members were exercised in de- 
bating, and studied the rules of Parliamentary pro- 
cedure. Of all the exercises to bring out the mind, 
and make a ready man, the best are the oral discus- 
sions. More men of distinction in public life owe 
their success and fame to exercises of literary socie- 
ties than to any one cause. But Colfax had another 
advantage. In the next two years he served as Sen- 
ate Reporter to the State Journal, at Indianapolis. 
Here he learned the practice of Parliamentary usages. 
We can now see how Mr. Colfax was educated to be 
Speaker of the House of Representatives, and one 
of the best it ever had. When we trace up men and 
events to their real causes, we see that a destiny 
shapes our ends. Men are educated to certain ends, 

1 Ladies' Repository, September, 1867. 

2 1 have examined four different accounts of Mr. Colfax, one of 
which was prepared by his Secretary, and there is no statement what- 
ever that he was a "printer's boy" 

3 Ladies' Repository, September, 1867. 

33 



386 LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

without any intention of their own, and when, per- 
haps, no fancy or ambition directed them to any such 
results. 

The article on Mr. Colfax, in Putnam's Magazine,' 
says he was bred a printer ; but I can find no author- 
ity for that statement, and his first appearance in a 
printing office seems to have been when, after serv- 
ing as a Reporter at Indianapolis, he got a taste for 
newspapers, and became editor and proprietor of the 
" St. Joseph's Valley Register." He was then just 
twenty-one, and is described, at that time, as a light, 
spindling, flaxen-haired youth, with a delicate tem- 
perament, and no particular indication of rising to 
any great hight of ambition. But there are two pro- 
fessions in the country which have been the stepping- 
stones of many a distinguished man, and yet, at first 
sight, would not seem to inspire much ambition, or 
create much popular talent : these are those of the 
schoolmaster and the editor. Many of the early 
fathers of the Republic were schoolmasters, and many 
of the men now in active public life have been edi- 
tors. And here let us pause one moment, to consider 
the profession of an editor ; and since Mr. Colfax 
was more years in that profession than in any other, it 
is proper to look at it as an educator of mind, and a 
power in the country. Much is said about the power 
of the press, and its usefulness ; but this is, in some 
degree, a misnomer. It is not the press, but the 
newspaper, which is a power in the land. The press 
may issue a book, which is a work of science, a 
poem, or a novel, but it exercises no influence. Its 

1 Putnam, June, 1868. 



THE NE WSPAPER. 387 

readers are few compared with those of a newspaper, 
and it announces no opinions in the current style 
and coloring of the day. A quarterly or monthly 
does little more, except on merely literary subjects. 
All these fail as organs of thought on the important 
and interesting subjects of the clay. The subjects 
on which men talk and think are religion, politics, 
society, and business. These are the subjects of 
thought and conversation, and these are the ones on 
which newspapers are constantly employed — con- 
stantly giving information — constantly advocating or 
opposing. The newspaper is the great channel of 
human thought, and the great purveyor of facts and 
news. Hence it is that almost all intelligent men 
take newspapers, and get from them information on 
all subjects, except those of mere science or litera- 
ture, and even of the last get most of their views. 
It is the newspaper, therefore, that is the power in 
the land, and it is the editor who directs that power. 
It is most fortunate that the demand for newspapers 
has created a great number ; so that this vast power 
is not confined to few hands. If it were, it would 
be in the power of the newspaper press to turn, 
direct, or distort the opinions of the country in 
almost any way. Happily we have newspapers of 
every shade of opinion, and of every sect, business, 
or profession. In this view of the case, the office of 
editor is the most responsible one in the country. 
It is not so high in rank as that of the minister of 
the Gospel, nor are its statements so supremely im- 
portant as those of the Gospel ; but its utterances 
reach far greater numbers, and on a far greater 



388 LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

variety of topics, and its means are far more power- 
ful. Imagine some Hume or Voltaire, some Talley- 
rand or Burr, editing a widely circulated newspaper, 
knowing enough of the world not to oppose the re- 
ligion or morals of the country directly, but suppress- 
ing and keeping out of sight the great Christian 
doctrines, sneering at fanatics and enthusiasts in any 
good cause, treating all sorts of practices as equally 
moral, flattering the vanities and fashions of society, 
and speaking of its vices with indifference ; imagine 
this, and you will see how numbers of readers will be 
gradually educated to a skepticism on religion, and 
an indifference to morals. Such examples of news- 
papers we already have in this country, and it is only 
by the fact that there are good, prudent Christian 
men, in the great body of the newspaper press, that 
the country is saved from a deluge of false opinions 
and corrupt practices. 

Mr. Colfax was the editor of a local country pa- 
per, and therefore not able to wield that wide influ- 
ence on society which such a man would wield in a 
great city, and which he now does wield in the dif- 
ferent career of statesman and patriot. Those who 
have written accounts of him have passed lightly 
over this part of his life ; but it was precisely in this 
he exercised the most influence, and it was this which 
made him what he is. Mr. Colfax here showed both 
his virtues and his business capacity. He took the 
South Bend Register when he was twenty-one years 
old, with two hundred and fifty subscribers, acting as 
both foreman and editor. Mrs. Stowe, 1 in her notice 
1 u Men of Our Times," p. 349. 



EDITOR OF ST. JOSEPH REGISTER. 389 

of him, says, what not one in one hundred of those 
who set up newspapers seem to understand, that the 
first year of a newspaper is not only one of trial and 
experiment, but one of absolute outlay, which must 
be counted as part of the capital, and not the ex- 
penses of the paper. Mr. Colfax, perhaps, did not un- 
derstand this, but he was industrious, hopeful, and 
persevering. Mr. Colfax reached the end of the year, 
owing #1,375, which was quite moderate, considering 
that he began without knowing any thing about a 
newspaper. The paper gradually became productive ; 
but, after a time, the office was burnt down, and was 
uninsured. So he had to begin again, but with the 
advantage of experience, and a well-earned character 
for honesty, fairness, and sound principles. But how 
did Colfax conduct himself as editor ? That is a test 
question ; for, even with good men as editors, there 
are few who will not bend sometimes to popular 
opinion, even when erroneous, and trim their sails to 
catch the popular breeze. There were some things 
twenty years ago, when he was editor, in which it 
was rather difficult to conduct a newspaper right, and 
yet retain the public confidence. Two of these were 
slavery and temperance ; the former was a subject 
just arising into hot debate, and the latter always 
divides society, in regard to its application. But 
young Colfax (for he was then young) never hesitated 
about such things. He seems, so far as we know 
any thing about it, to have started in life with right 
principles, and to have kept them. He has steadily 
advocated temperance reform, and as steadily sup- 
ported antislavery principles, but has never been 



390 LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

harsh, bitter, or unreasonable, and therefore has al- 
ways commanded the respect, and even favor, of his 
opponents. After being a reporter at Indianapolis, 
and the editor of a country newspaper, it was impos- 
sible to avoid politics, if he would, and his was not a 
nature to wish it. Politics is a sort of atmosphere 
in which every body in this country breathes, and, in 
fact, every freeman on earth must breathe. There is 
no avoiding it, if we would be free. In the natural 
course of events, there is one class of people which 
has more to do with politics than any other ; this is 
the class of editors. Through the newspaper all polit- 
ical opinions are uttered, and the editors hear, and 
generally take part in, all that is said and done on the 
subject. The county paper of St. Joseph's county, 
Indiana, could not be silent on such subjects, and 
Colfax had already formed his opinions. I can speak 
of his politics with knowledge and sympathy, for 
when he was editing a paper at South Bend, I was 
editing one in Cincinnati. We were both of exactly 
the same school of politics. This school was that 
of the Progressive Whigs. From the very beginning, 
the Whig party had within itself two schools — one 
was what is now called Conservatives, and the other, 
not exactly Radicals, (although some members might 
be called so,) but Progressives. 

The particular subject of difference was slavery. 
The Progressive Whigs followed the doctrines and 
views of John Quincy Adams. This eminent states- 
man was the founder and head of the Antislavery 
party, which at length abolished slavery, and pro- 
duced the great social revolution now going on. 



JOHN Q. ADAMS'S VIEWS. 39 1 

Great fame is now given to the sayings and doings 
of Mr. Chase, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Sumner, and others, 
of the present Republican school of politics. JUit 
the great head of this school was Mr. Adams, who 
was, in every way, vastly superior to his pupils. 
When history comes to be written of these events — • 
as in another generation it will be — no doubt proper 
praise will be given to those who formed and led the 
Republican party; but to Mr. Adams will be given 
the praise of what is justly his due — every one of the 
political doctrines on which they acted. His great 
speeches on the Amistad Case, the Right of Petition, 
and the Texas Question, contain all the political 
doctrines on the question of Human Rights, under 
the Constitution, from that day to this — and put forth 
with more power and eloquence than they have been 
by any of the Republican chiefs. The greatest ques- 
tion of the war, and the vital one, that, under the 
war power, slavery could be abolished, was an- 
nounced and defended in Mr. Adams's great speech 
on the Texas Question. It was unanswerable. And 
when the war broke out, the full force and import- 
ance of his doctrines became obvious ; but we remem- 
ber with how much slowness Mr. Lincoln carried 
them into practice, and how long it has taken the 
nation to rise up to the doctrines of Mr. Adams. 
Lincoln was himself the only man of the Republi- 
can party, who rose up to the political philosophy of 
John Quincy Adams. The Democratic party had 
men of strong abolition feelings, but the best of them 
had to get out of the party, before they could get up 
to the level of Adams and Lincoln. In point of 



392 LIFE OF SCHUTLER COLFAX. 

ability, nobody got up to that level. Adams with his 
learning, Lincoln with his honesty, and both with the 
genius of freedom, rose high into that pure atmos- 
phere of justice and truth which few men ever reach. 
When I reflect that, notwithstanding all the depravi- 
ties of politics, and all the weakness of politicians, 
this country has had, in forty years, two such Presi- 
dents as John Quincy Adams and Abraham Lincoln, 
I feel that there is ground for hope and confidence in 
republican institutions. 

To the antislavery wing of the Whig party, to 
which Mr. Colfax belonged, is historically due all the 
great progress in great principles, which the last ten 
years have produced. The little sect of original 
Abolitionists were right, and honest, and energetic, 
but they were politically powerless. The best and 
most honest of the sect was William Lloyd Garrison ; 
but, what was he able to do in a long series of years ? 
Only to impress a few minds, and, by his own suffer- 
ings, to show what the cruelties and malign influences 
of slavery were. What could Wendell Phillips do? 
Absolutely nothing. With all his classic eloquence he 
produced no impression on the public mind. What 
did the little political sect called the Liberty party do ? 
They did a good deal of political mischief, and no 
possible good. The leaven of a right principle was 
working in the country ; but it would have taken 
generations for that alone to have accomplished the 
political revolution, which soon after occurred. It 
was equally in vain to appeal to the antislavery prin- 
ciples of Mr. Jefferson, as an element of the Demo- 
cratic party. The Democratic party was governed 



FIRST PUBLIC SERVICE. 393 

by the South, and the South was almost unanimous. 
There were bright and rising minds in the Demo- 
cratic party of the North, who felt the galling and 
degrading moral slavery to which they were reduced ; 
but there was only here and there one who had the 
moral courage to resist that slavery. The power of 
slavery was a political power. It was imbedded in 
the Constitution, by the right of representation, by 
the election of President, and by the reclamation of 
fugitive slaves ; all of which were parts of the solid 
structure of that instrument. To talk of the Consti- 
tution being an antislavery instrument, with these 
provisions in it, was a palpable absurdity, to which 
the popular mind never for a moment gave assent. 
The true and great political doctrines, on which 
alone slavery could be destroyed, were announced by 
Mr. Adams; namely: 1. That slavery did not exist on 
the high seas ; 2. That it has no right to a political 
or territorial extension ; and, 3. That the war power 
could abolish slavery. Nothing could carry these 
principles into practical effect, but a political organ- 
ization ; and nothing could destroy slavery but war. 
The antislavery Whigs (who were by far the greatest in 
number), with the antislavery Democrats, accomplished 
the first, by the organization of the Republican party. 
Divine Providence, working by invisible, but inevi- 
table laws, accomplished the last. Slavery perished 
under the war power of the Constitution. 

Let us now return to Mr. Colfax. It was in the 
school of the antislavery Whigs he received his po- 
litical ideas, to which he has ever been faithful. 

" Mr. Colfax's first more public service began in 



394 LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

1848, as member and Secretary of the Whig Con- 
vention, which nominated General Taylor for Presi- 
dent. In 1850 he was an active member of the 
Convention which framed the present Constitution 
of Indiana. Here he persistently opposed the un- 
manly clause prohibiting free colored men from en- 
tering the State. This clause, submitted separately 
to the people, was indorsed by majorities of eight 
thousand in his district, and ninety thousand in the 
State ; yet, where a mere political trimmer would 
have waived the personal issue, he, like a man, openly 
voted with the minority, though he was at the time 
a candidate for Congress." 1 

In 1850, when he opposed the pro-slavery clause 
of the Indiana Constitution, slavery was triumphant 
in the country. It forced its doctrine into the Whig 
platform of 1852, and forced the Democratic party 
to nominate Franklin Pierce, who had ever been the 
subservient instrument of its doctrines. Nothing 
could be more significant of its entire predominance 
in the country than the fact of its forcing into the 
Indiana Constitution a clause prohibiting freemen 
from entering the State because they were colored ! 
Mr. Colfax was in a minority; but he had the moral 
courage to resist the rising tide of popular prejudices. 
He has lived to see the people reject those false doc- 
trines, and himself rise to a triumphant majority. 

Mr. Colfax was elected to Congress in 1852, in a 

district which had been Democratic, but which has 

reelected him to every Congress since, except one. 

In those sixteen years, the number of votes given 

1 Ladies' Repository, December, 1867. 



crisis of 1854. 395 

in his district has doubled, and his majority has in- 
creased in proportion. This is due, no doubt, in part, 
to his suavity of manners and kindness of conduct ; 
but it is due more to his consistency of principle and 
his sound judgment on public affairs. In 1854 came 
one of the great crises of the country ; it was the 
attempt to force slavery into the new territories. 
There were three ideas thrown out, and made the 
pivots of three political sects. The first was the true 
pro-slavery doctrine, that slavery had a right to go 
any where within the bounds of the United States, 
and to be protected every-where. The doctrine was, 
that a negro slave is, like an ox, property, and being 
property, his master, the owner, had a right to carry 
him any where he went himself; and as he had the 
right to migrate into the territories himself, so he 
had a right to carry his ox and his slave there. Of 
course, if this was true, any legislation against it was 
unconstitutional. The second doctrine, but really a 
modification of this, was that of Mr. Douglas, which 
is commonly known as "squatter sovereignty." This 
really admitted the right claimed by the South, but 
said, that the people of the territories had a right to 
regulate the subject of slavery, and make the territory 
free if they chose. This doctrine was really the same 
with the doctrine of Mr. Webster, in his speech of 
the 7th of March, 1850, that Nature would regulate 
it ; that climate forbade the existence of slavery in 
some territories, such as New Mexico, and therefore 
there was no danger from it in the Northern terri- 
tories. The vice of both the doctrines of Douglas 
and Webster was the same ; that they admitted the 



396 LIFE OF SC1IUTLER COLFAX. 

right of the slaveholders to carry their slaves into 
any territory, and protect them there, whether Con- 
gress chose or not. Of the two modifications, the 
South evidently preferred Webster's, for they knew 
that Northern territories would be filled with North- 
ern people, and they were much more willing to trust 
Nature than the Northern people in dealing with 
slavery. The third idea was that of the antislavery 
Whigs, to which I have alluded, that slavery had no 
right to extend itself, either territorially or politically ; 
that man was property only within the limits of the 
slave States, and that the territory of the United States 
(not organized into States) was the domain of freedom, 
where a man was a man, and an ox an ox ; where the 
latter might be property, but the former could not. 
This was equally opposed to the pro-slavery and the 
"squatter sovereignty" doctrines. Mr. Webster was 
encountered by Mr. Seward, and Mr. Douglas by the 
whole Whig party, for "squatter sovereignty" was to 
them equally absurd and obnoxious. The conflict 
must necessarily be narrowed down to the single is- 
sue of prohibiting or of protecting slavery in the terri- 
tories. The Thirty-Third Congress, of which Colfax 
was not a member, passed what was known as the Ne- 
braska Bill, permitting the extension of slavery. This 
act produced an extraordinary political revolution in 
the North, and astonished the South. The people had 
for years been wearied out with the pretensions and 
impositions of the South. If they had great leaders, 
who were willing to lead them in the career of new 
ideas, the revolution would have come much sooner ; 
but Providence shapes our ends, and the course of 



CONTEST FOR SPEAKER. 397 

events was directed much better than we could foresee. 
The census of i860 was necessary to make the tri- 
umph of freedom sure. In the mean while, Colfax 
took ground with the party of the people and of free- 
dom. He was immediately made a candidate for 
Congress, and, in 1854, elected by two thousand ma- 
jority. 

The Thirty-Fourth Congress met December 3, 
1855, with a majority opposed to the Administration. 
The majority, however, were not united on any one 
principle. Nearly half were Anti-Nebraska men, so 
called; but they were not quite a majority. The 
balance of power was held by about forty members, 
elected by the "American party." The result was 
a most remarkable contest for the Speakership, 
which lasted from December 3, 1855, to February 2, 
1856 — two months. The practical importance of 
electing a Speaker consisted chiefly in this, that, by 
the rules of the House, he had the appointment of 
the Committees, and then the controlling of their 
actions, not the action of the House, by shaping the 
manner in which measures should be presented. 
The House presented a curious scene. For a month 
the voting went on about thus: 

Banks (Anti-Nebraska) 105 

Richardson (Democrat) 75 

Fuller (American) 4 1 

Pennington (Anti-Nebraska) .... 8 

It is plain that the second and third had a major- 
ity over the other two. The Pennington votes added 
to those of Banks would not elect him. Unless 
something could be gained from the American 



398 LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

clique, an Anti-Nebraska candidate could not be 
elected. About a month after this contest began, 
Mr. Campbell, of Ohio, offered a resolution, that Mr. 
Orr, of South Carolina, "be invited to preside tem- 
porarily till a Speaker be elected." This was simply 
a motion to give every thing over to the Pro-Slavery 
party, and it came nigh succeeding. A motion to 
lay this resolution on the table failed by twenty ma- 
jority. At this moment Mr. Colfax rose, and moved 
that, in order to a fair equality, each of the three 
parties to the contest be allowed to elect a tempo- 
rary Chairman, and these to preside alternately, in 
the order they may agree upon. A debate arose ; a 
recess was taken, and next day the resolution was 
withdrawn. Another month passed by, and at last it 
was agreed that the Speaker should be elected by a 
plurality. Then Mr. Banks, of Massachusetts, was 
elected, by a vote of one hundred and three to one 
hundred for Mr. Aiken, of South Carolina. Congress 
remained in session a long while ; and it was in this, 
June 21, 1856, that Mr. Colfax delivered a strong 
speech on the infamous proceedings in Kansas, which, 
under the name of constitutions and laws, excited the 
horror and indignation of almost the entire mass of 
the free and intelligent citizens. The laws attempted 
to be imposed upon Kansas, were imposed by Mis- 
souri ruffians, and enforced by immigrant bullies from 
the Southern States. One of these laws actually in- 
flicted imprisonment at hard labor, with ball and 
chain, upon those who should even say that persons 
had not the right to hold slaves in that Territory! 
This was monstrous. It would have sent to jail 



MR. COLFAX'S SPEECH. 399 

nearly all the great men of the nation, and Mr. Col- 
fax handled this law against the Pro-Slavery party 
with great effect. The close of Mr. Colfax's speech 1 
was a very happy allusion to the course of Mr. Clay, 
and a prophetic intimation of our civil war. 

"As I look, sir, to the smiling valleys and fertile 
plains of Kansas, and witness there the sorrowful 
scenes of civil war, in which, when forbearance at last 
ceased to be a virtue, the Free-State men of the Ter- 
ritory felt it to be necessary, deserted as they were 
by their Government, to defend their lives, their fam- 
ilies, their property, and their hearth-stones, the lan- 
guage of one of the noblest statesmen of the age, 
uttered six years ago at the other end of the Capitol, 
rises before my mind — I allude to the great states- 
man of Kentucky, Henry Clay. And while the party 
which, while he lived, lit the torch of slander at 
every avenue of his private life, and libeled him be- 
fore the American people by every epithet that ren- 
ders man infamous, as a gambler, debauchee, traitor, 
and enemy of his country, are now engaged in shed- 
ding fictitious tears over his grave, and appealing to 
his old supporters to aid by their votes in shielding 
them from the indignation of an uprisen people, I 
ask them to read this language of his, which comes 
to us as from his tomb to-day. With the change of 
but a single geographical word in the place of Mex- 
ico, how prophetically does it point to the very scenes 
and issues of this year ! And who can doubt with 
what party he would stand in the coming campaign 
if he were restored to us from the damps of the 
1 1 copy from Mrs. Stowe's "Men of our Times." 



4<X) LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

grave, when they read the following, which fell from 
his lips in 1850, and with which, thanking the House 
for its attention, I conclude my remarks. 

" Mr. Clay said : ' But if unhappily we should be 
involved in war, in civil war, between the two parties 
of this Confederacy, in which the effort upon the one 
side should be to restrain the introduction of slavery 
into the new territories, and upon the other side to 
force its introduction there, what a spectacle should 
we present to the astonishment of mankind, in an 
effort not to propagate rights, but (I must say it, 
though I trust it will be understood to be said with 
no design to excite feeling) a war to propagate wrongs 
in the territory then acquired from Mexico ! It would 
be a war in which we should have no sympathies, no 
good wishes ; in which all mankind would be against 
us ; for, from the commencement of the Revolution 
down to the present time, we have constantly re- 
proached our British ancestors for the introduction 
of slavery into this country.' " 

Mr. Colfax returned to his constituents in the 
Fall of 1856, and was reelected with the entire con- 
fidence of this great and intelligent party, which was 
now rising to control the Government. He never 
for a moment belonged to the mongrel sects, which 
had a brief existence on the platforms of Douglas 
and of Webster. He saw, if not by reasoning, then 
by instinct, that there was but one issue to be made 
with slavery, and that was to destroy it by limitation, 
which, in fact, was strangulation ; for the leaders of 
the South saw, as clearly as we did, that if slav- 
ery was limited and made local it would soon be 



REELECTED TO CONGRESS. 401 

The man must have been politically blind, 

ill-read in the motives of human conduct, who 

did e that, if we tied and disgraced slavery by 

'.imitation, we should soon kill it. The great po- 

of i860 and 1864 were simply whether 

should kill freedom, or freedom kill slavery. 

it pre Perhaps Mr. Colfax did not 

: the whole extent of this view; there were 

{ did But that was the single issue on which 

ttles were fought. 

reelected in the Fall of 1 856, al- 

the i ntial election was lost in conse- 

: the v en to Mr. Fillmore. In 1858 

v acclamation, and has been 

& since. On the accession 

: by a large number of 

i„ti r the office of Postmaster- 

,1; but M: I olll had determined to appoint 

Caleb retary of the Interior, 

the promotion of any other citizen 

to the Cabinet ; nor is it to be regretted, 

fully served as Speaker 

i 1 jentatives. 

34 



402 LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 



CHAPTER II. 

COLFAX ELECTED SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE — HIS ADDRESS TO 
THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS — HIS PUBLIC CHARACTER — 
HIS LECTURES — HIS RELIGIOUS CHARACTER — HIS NOMINA- 
TION AS VICE-PRESIDENT — CHICAGO PLATFORM — LETTERS 
OF GRANT AND COLFAX ACCEPTING THE NOMINATION — 
POLITICAL ISSUES OF THE DAY. 

IN December, 1863, Schuyler Colfax was elected 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. It 
was in the very midst of the war, and was to all pub- 
lic men a most trying time. Remembering this, and 
that it was God who ruled in the armies and the 
nations, he said to the Thirty-Eighth Congress: "I 
invoke you to remember that sacred truth, which all 
history verifies, that 'they who rule not in righteous- 
ness shall perish from the earth.'" 

At last, peace returned, and the Thirty-Ninth 
Congress convened in the Capitol, at Washington, on 
the 4th of December, 1865. Events the most un- 
precedented and the most important had transpired. 
Peace had returned — Lincoln had been assassinated — 
the rebel States were to be reconstructed — and this 
Congress had to meet the most unparalleled respon- 
sibilities, and perform the most extraordinary duties. 
Long before their assembling, the halls, galleries, 
and corridors of the House of Representatives were 



JOHNSON'S USURPATION OF POWER. 403 

thronged as they had never been before. There w.is 
a great question — at least such is the popular mind- 
to be settled before even a Speaker could be elected 
On the death of Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Andrew Johnson, 
then Vice-President, became acting President of the 
United States; for those who read the Constitution 
will observe that, on the death of a President, the 
duties of President were devolved on the Vice-Presi- 
dent; but he was not made President, and could not 
be, because never elected such. Mr. Johnson took it 
upon himself to decide the whole legal condition of 
the rebel States, without any consultation with either 
Congress or the people. Admitting, if any one chooses 
to do it, that his intentions were good, this was never- 
theless an entire assumption of a sovereignty which 
belonged to the people. It was leaving the people with- 
out any power over the subject, in which of all they 
had the most interest — What and how many should 
constitute the States of the American Union? Suffice 
it to say, that Johnson assumed — as if he had been an 
absolute monarch — that the rebel States, which a few 
months before had stood as foreign powers, and waged 
war on the Government, were actually in the American 
Union ! It is impossible to imagine an idea more ab- 
surd, or a proposition more dangerous. Most for- 
tunately (after the usurpation of the President in 
ordering the election of members of Congress from 
the rebel States) there was a clause in the Constitu- 
tion which enabled Congress to defeat this bold fraud 
on popular rights. This clause was the one which 
gave each House of Congress a right to decide on 
the qualifications of its own members. No one could 



404 LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

claim that Congress was bound to receive criminals 
into its body ; for if even admitted, they could be at 
once expelled, by virtue of another section of the 
Constitution ; but this very question would come up 
on the election of Speaker — Who are members, and 
have a right to vote on the election of Speaker? 
Most fortunately, Edward McPherson was Clerk of 
the House, whose duty it was to call the roll, and 
by that very call, to determine who were to vote, un- 
less the House, as it might have done, had over- 
ruled his decision. The country was greatly con- 
cerned ; the audience were excited ; and it was a 
moment of anxious expectation. 

"Edward McPherson, who at that moment occu- 
pied the most prominent and responsible place in the 
nation, had come to his position through a series of 
steps which afforded the country an opportunity of 
knowing his material and capacity. A graduate of 
Pennsylvania College in 1848, editor, author, twice a 
Congressman, and Clerk of the House of Representa- 
tives in the Thirty-Eighth Congress, he had given 
evidence that he was reliable. Having shown him- 
self a thoroughly conscientious man in the perform- 
ance of all his public duties, the great interests of 
the nation were safe in his hands." 

The scene which ensued on the calling of the roll, 
I quote from "Barnes's History of the Thirty-Ninth 
Congress," 1 a valuable and interesting book. 

"The Clerk proceeded to call the roll of Repre- 
sentatives elect, while the subordinates at the desk 
took notes of the responses. He called the names of 

1 History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress ; by William H. Barnes. 



ORGANIZING THE 39TH CONGRESS, 405 

Congressmen from the States of Maine, New Hamp- 
shire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and so forth, in a cer- 
tain order which had been customary time immemo- 
rial in naming the States. In this order Tennessee 
had place after Kentucky, and before Indiana. When 
the name of the last Representative from Kentucky 
had been called, the decisive moment arrived. The 
delegation from Tennessee were on the floor, ready 
to answer to their names. The Clerk passed over 
Tennessee, and went direct to Indiana. As soon as 
the first member from Indiana had responded, there 
arose a tall, black-haired, dark-faced figure, that every 
body recognized as Horace Maynard, of Tennessee. 
He shook his certificate of election at the Clerk, and 
began to speak, but the gavel came down with a sharp 
rap, and a firm, decided voice was heard from the 
desk, 'The Clerk declines to have any interruption 
during the*call of the roll.' The roll-call then pro- 
ceeded without further interference to the end. When, 
at last, the Clerk had finished his list of Representa- 
tives and Territorial Delegates, Mr. Maynard once 
more arose. 'The Clerk can not be interrupted while 
ascertaining whether a quorum is present,' says the 
presiding officer. The count of the assistants having 
been completed, the Clerk announced, 'One hundred 
and seventy-six members having answered to their 
names, a quorum is present.' Mr. Morrill immedi- 
ately moved that the House proceed to the election 
of Speaker. 'Before that motion is put,' said Mr. 
Maynard, again arising. The Clerk was ready for the 
emergency, and before Mr. Maynard could complete 
his sentence, he uttered the imperative and conclusive 



406 LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

words, 'The Clerk can not recognize as entitled to 
the floor any gentleman whose name is not on this 
roll.' A buzz of approbation greeted the discreet 
ruling of the Clerk. The difficult point was passed, 
and the whole subject of the admission of Southern 
Representatives was handed over intact, to be delib- 
erately considered after the House should be fully 
organized for business." 

Mr. Morrill moved to proceed to the election of 
Speaker, but neglected to move the previous question. 
Mr. Brooks, of New York, moved to amend the roll, 
and complete it. lie asked that the gentleman from 
Tennessee be heard, for if Tennessee was not in the 
Union, "how does the President of the United States 
usurp his place in the White House, when an alien 
and a foreigner, and not from a State in the Union?" 
In this Mr. Brooks, without thinking of it, justly re- 
buked the Republican party for having elected to a 
National office a man not yet emerged from the con- 
dition of rebellion. This act was a monstrous blun- 
der, and the time had now come, when, in the person 
of Andrew Johnson, it was to visit its natural and 
inevitable retribution on the party who elected him. 
The House of Representatives had before it the stern 
duty of correcting that blunder, and of turning back 
the stream of rebel triumphs and political corruptions, 
which were sure to follow the policy of Johnson. 
The House did not hesitate a moment ; and to the 
Thirty-Ninth Congress is due the praise of having 
adopted the only policy on which this nation could 
have been pacified. 

The objections to the organization of the House 



MR. COLFAX ELECTED SPEAKER. 407 

I at length Mr. Morrill, of Maine, rose and 
huyler Colfax, of Indiana, as Speaker. 
Bide, J. nncs Brooks, of New York, was 
i tellers announced Mr. Colfax one 
ind thirty-nine, (139;) Mr. Brooks, thirty- 
it was ended. The Clerk stepped 
took his place as Speaker of 
He was thus described: 

e thus made vacant appeared the 

ent before elected to the position by 

:na;<>ritv ever given to a Speaker 

• ii rtioned figure of medium 

ntenance often radiant with smiles, 

ment quick and restless, yet calm and 

teristic of him upon whom 

In the past a printer and ed- 

■. I ngress for the sixth term, 

ker the second time, Schuyler 

take the oath of office, and enter 

• most difficult and responsible 

use of Representatives, — The 

. marking as it does the 

nal history, is always regarded 

the people for whom it is to legis- 

not unsafe to say that millions more 

. North, South, East, and West, are 

• • • Cor jess which opens its session to- 

j and solicitude unequaled on 

,ns in the past The Thirty-Eighth 

ed its constitutional existence with the 

. 1 of war still lowering over us, and after 



408 LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

nine months' absence, Congress resumes its legisla- 
tive authority in these council halls, rejoicing that 
from shore to shore in our land there is peace. 

" Its duties are as obvious as the sun's pathway 
in the heavens. Representing in its two branches 
the States and the people, its first and highest obli- 
gation is to guarantee to every State a republican 
form of government. The . rebellion having over- 
thrown constitutional State governments in many 
States, it is yours to mature and enact legislation 
which, with the concurrence of the Executive, shall 
establish them anew on such a basis of enduring 
justice as will guarantee all necessary safeguards to 
the people, and afford what our Magna Charta, the 
Declaration of Independence, proclaims is the chief 
object of government — protection to all men in their 
inalienable rights. The world should witness, in this 
great work, the most inflexible fidelity, the most 
earnest devotion to the principles of liberty and hu- 
manity, the truest patriotism and the wisest states- 
manship. 

" Heroic men, by hundreds of thousands, have 
died that the Republic might live. The emblems of 
mourning have darkened White House and cabin 
alike ; but the fires of civil war have melted every 
fetter in the land, and proved the funeral pyre of 
slavery. It is for you, Representatives, to do your 
work as faithfully and as well as did the fearless 
saviors of the Union in their more dangerous arena 
of duty. Then we may hope to see the vacant and 
once abandoned seats around us gradually filling up, 
till this hall shall contain Representatives from every 



THE SPEAKER'S OATH. 409 

State and district; their hearts devoted to the Union 
for which they are to legislate, jealous of its honor, 

proud of its glory, watchful of its rights, and hostile 
to its enemies. And the stars on our banner, that 
paled when the States they represented arrayed them- 
selves in arms against the nation, will shine with a 
more brilliant light of loyalty than ever before." 

Mr. Colfax, having finished his address, took the 
following oath, which stood as the most serious ob- 
stacle in the way of many elected to Congress from 
the Southern States : 

" I do solemnly swear that I have never volunta- 
rily borne arms against the United States since I 
have been a citizen thereof; that I have voluntarily 
given no aid, countenance, counsel, or encourage- 
ment to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto ; 
that I have neither sought, nor accepted, nor at- 
tempted to exercise the functions of any office what- 
ever, under any authority or pretended authority in 
hostility to the United States; that I have not yielded 
a voluntary support to any pretended government, 
authority, power, or constitution within the United 
States, hostile or inimical thereto. And I do further 
swear that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, 
I will support and defend the Constitution of the 
United States against all enemies, foreign and domes- 
tic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the 
same; that I take this obligation freely, without any 
mental reservation or purpose of evasion ; and that I 
will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office 
on which I am about to enter. So help me God !" 

Mr. Colfax was reelected Speaker of the Fortieth 

53 



410 LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

Congress. He is said to be the most popular, and, 
except Henry Clay, the ablest Speaker of the House 
of Representatives. 

An article in Putnam's Magazine for June, 1867, 
thus describes Mr. Colfax's characteristics in Con- 
gress : 

" Without being bred a lawyer, practical familiar- 
ity with legislation has taught him all that is most 
valuable in law, freed from the conservatism and in- 
aptitude for change and reform which rest like an in- 
cubus on so many of those minds which are bred by 
the habits of the legal profession to look for prece- 
dents which show what the law has been, rather than 
to broad principles which settle what the law ought 
to be. Yet Mr. Colfax has frequently shown the 
happiest familiarity with precedents, especially in 
questions of parliamentary practice. As a presiding 
officer he is the most popular the House has had 
since Henry Clay. His marvelous quickness of 
thought, and talent for the rapid administration of 
details, enables him to hold the reins of the House 
of Representatives, even in its most boisterous and 
turbulent moods, (and with the exception of the New 
York Board of Brokers, the British House of Com- 
mons, or a Fair at Donnybrook, it is the most up- 
roarious body in the world,) with as much ease and 
grace as Mr. Bonner would show the paces of Dexter 
in Central Park, or as Gottschalk would thread 
the keys of a piano, in a dreamy maze of faultless, 
quivering melody. As an orator, Mr. Colfax is not 
argumentative, except as clear statement and sound 
judgment are convincing. He rides no erratic 



CHARACTERISTICS OF MR. COLFA V. .\\l 

hobbies. He demands few policies which the aver 
sense of intelligent men can not be made to assent 
to on a clear statement of his position. He ia emi- 
nently representative. A glance at his broad, well- 
balanced, practical brain indicates that his leading 
faculty is the sum of all the faculties — judgment, and 
that what he believes the majority of the people 
either believe or can be made to believe. Some men 
may be further ahead of the age. Mr. Colfax finds 
sufficient occupation and usefulness in adapting him- 
self to times and things as they are, without cutting 
his throat with paradoxes or stealing a march on man- 
kind with some new light, which they are very likely 
to regard as a 'will-o'-the-wisp.' He has no eccen- 
tricities, but great tact. His talents arc administra- 
tive and executive, rather than deliberative. lie would 
make good appointments, and adopt sure policies. 
He would make a better President, or Speaker of the 
House, than Senator. He knows men well, estimates 
them correctly, treats them all fairly and candidly. 
No man will get through his business with you in 
fewer minutes, and yet none is more free from the 
horrid brusqiieness of busy men. There are heart 
and kindness in Mr. Colfax's politeness. Men leave 
his presence with the impression that he is at once 
an able, honest, and kind man. Political opponents 
like him personally, as well as his political friends." 
The above account of Mr. Colfax is most strik- 
ingly correct, when it says he is a "representative 
man." This he would not be if he were a great gen- 
ius, a great scholar, a great lawyer, or even a great 
statesman; for such men are not "representative 



412 LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

men." A representative man must be one who 
holds the general ideas, sentiments, and manners of 
the people, but holds them fully up to the best stand- 
ard ; with full information on the laws, usages, and 
topics of the day. If there be such a man, he is 
more likely to rise from the class of editors than 
from any other in the community; for there is no 
other class of men brought so much in contact with 
the general opinions, customs, manners, and men of 
the day. They always have literature enough to appear 
well on paper, and information enough not to make 
blunders on common topics. If we now suppose such 
a man to have been brought up with sound principles 
of business and religion ; to have a profound love of 
country; to have experience as a legislator; and to 
have mingled much with public men, we shall have 
such a man as Mr. Colfax is. He has also had the 
good sense to have availed himself of all possible 
opportunities of seeing and understanding his own 
country. In the intervals of Congress, we find him 
traversing the continent on the overland route, and 
personally investigating those distant Territories and 
prolific mines in which he had felt much interest. 
His observations he condensed into an interesting 
lecture, and we again find him delivering that lecture 
in the great cities of the country. This journey and 
lecturing furnished a wide field of observation, as well 
as a healthy exercise of the mind. In this he shares 
a similar experience to that of the Earl of Carlisle, 
who having traveled in the United States, gave the 
results of his observations, in a lecture, to the people 
of England. The office of lecturer may not seem the 



MR. COLFA X'S LECTURE. 4 1 3 

highest in the country; some men have made it a 
mere profession; but in the case of a clear-headed, 

well-informed public man it may be made very use- 
ful. It is one of the ways of educating the people, 
Mr. Colfax seems to have some literary ability, and 
be willing to exercise it for the instruction of the 
people. Just one year ago he delivered an addr 
on the "Education of the Heart," at Aurora Semi- 
nary, Illinois; from this I here take some extracts, in 
which the reader will find a truly religious spirit, 
which he has carried into all his public addresses, and 
to which his life has conformed. 

After noticing that no animal is so helpless as a 
child, and that the child comes into the world with 
the mixed principles of good and evil, he says : 

" It is men that make the State. An island full 
of savages can be nothing but a savage State. Where 
the people worship idols of wood and stone, mankind 
call it a heathen State. A country of impure men 
must be an impure State. But where Morality and 
Intelligence prevail, and Right bears sway, and Con- 
science is respected and obeyed, the onlooking world 
recognizes that there is a country worthy to be em- 
braced in the circle of Christendom, and to rank high 
among the civilized States of the earth 

"If you concede, then — as you must, for history 
is full of its proofs — that the hope of a country is 
with its young, how priceless are the hundreds of in- 
stitutions like this, and the tens of thousands of 
schools of other grades in which our land rejoices to- 
day ! How truly did Cicero declare : ' Study cherishes 
youth, delights age, adorns prosperity, furnishes 



41 4 LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

support in adversity, tarries with us by night and by 
day, and attends us in all our journeyings and wander- 
ings !' And again, when on another occasion that 
eloquent orator eulogized Wisdom : ' For what is 
there,' said he, ' more desirable than Wisdom ? What 
more excellent and lovely in itself? What more use- 
ful and becoming for a man ? Or what more worthy 
of his reasonable nature ?' And in the inspired record 
Solomon, in even a loftier strain than the master of 
Roman eloquence, exclaims, 'Happy is the man that 
findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understand- 
ing. For the merchandise of it is better than the 
merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine 
gold. Length of days is in her right hand, and in 
her left hand riches and honor. She is a tree of life 
to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is every 
one that retaineth her. Exalt her, and she shall pro- 
mote thee. She shall bring to thy head an ornament 
of grace. A crown of glory shall she deliver to 
thee.'" 

I do not know where a common, but great truth 
has been better expressed than in the following para- 
graph from Mr. Colfax's address: 

" Truth may have, as in the olden time, but a single 
worshiper, while Baal has his thousands of priests. 
And the man who stands fearlessly for the right amid 
the devotees of wrong; who wars, single-handed if need 
be, against tyranny or treason where Evil and Injus- 
tice have their legions of minions ; who loves the good 
and follows in its ways because it is the right, and 
eschews error and wickedness however easy or profit- 
able may be its service; who calmly and confidently 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 415 

looks to the future for his vindication ; and who like 
Christian in that sacred Iliad, the 'Pilgrim's Progress/ 
presses forward in the journey of life with steady and 
fearless step, regardless of Apollyon, of Vanity Fair, 
or even the Giant Despair — that man, whether in 
palace or cottage, under a republican or despotic flag, 
the most learned or the most illiterate of his land, is 
the true moral victor on the battle-field of life. He 
shall have his reward ; for in that land where the 
streets are gold, and the gates are pearl, and the walls 
are jasper and sapphire, his star of victory shall shine 
brighter and brighter; while the laurels of scepter 
and of crown, of office and of fame, shall wither into 
the dust and ashes out of which they were formed." 

These extracts from Mr. Colfax's address on the 
"Education of the Heart" prove three things: that he 
has good literary abilities ; that he is in favor of good 
education, and that his views of the great principles 
of life are those of the true Christian. If, by any 
contingency, Mr. Colfax should come to be President 
of this country, it will not be said that the wicked 
bear rule, or that private vices degrade public station, 
in the person of the Chief Magistrate. 

The religious character of Mr. Colfax is such 
as we may reasonably infer it to be from the facts I 
have given. On one side he was descended from 
the Dutch, of New York, and the family attended the 
Dutch Church. One who knew about them says of 
Schuyler: 

"Ay, wise Doctor, 'religion is their only sure and 
proper source.' That religion gained the early ad- 
herence of Mr. Colfax, who many years ago began a 



416 LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

Christian life, joining the Dutch Reformed Church, 
and serving humbly and usefully as a Sunday school 
teacher for twelve years. The ' pious passages ' so 
frequent in his public speeches are not mere senti- 
ment or oratorical arts, for he loves to talk in 
private of how God rules, and how distinctly and 
how often in our history his holy arm has been re- 
vealed ; and the ascription of praise comes from a 
worshiping heart, reliant on God through Christ. His 
personal example at Washington is luminous. When 
twenty, he made vows of strict abstinence, which 
have never been broken. Liquors and wines are 
never used at his receptions, while Presidential din- 
ners and diplomatic banquets are utterly powerless to 
abate one jot or tittle of his firmness. Many well 
remember his late speech at the Congressional tem- 
perance meeting, and how he banished the sale of 
liquor from all parts of the Capitol within his juris- 
diction." l 

It is said that at the Chicago Convention, the 
friends of Mr. Colfax offered no liquors during the 
canvass. His temperance doctrines may not help him 
in the coming election, but it is an honorable record, 
and surely no man in this nation, in his calm judg- 
ment, can regret that the country is saved from such 
scenes as we have been compelled recently to endure. 

To give an outline view of Mr. Colfax's appear- 
ance and manners, I take, from the same authority, 5 
the following description : 

"Mr. Colfax is under medium hight, with brown 

1 Ladies' Repository, September, 1867. 

2 H. S. Tower, Esq., of Chicago, formerly Secretary to Mr. Colfax. 



AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER. 417 

hair, a brow firmly molded, a blue, open, and gener- 
ous eye, a frank face full of character, a mouth 
strongly inclined to smile at the least provocation, al- 
though clearly showing that firmness, decision, en- 
ergy, and kindness of heart which have done so much 
to make him what he is. 

" Mr. Colfax is not learned in the University 
sense ; but he possesses great practical wisdom, and 
a thorough self-education, and his industry was fore- 
shadowed in his early and very brief school-life. His 
intellect is clear, his reading wide, perceptions quick, 
convictions deep, and sense of duty as imperative as 
a voice from the sky. Honorably unselfish, unques- 
tionably sincere, no wire-pulling trickster, no preten- 
tious humbug whose eminence alone protects him 
from exposure, generous to subordinates and true to 
all, he deserves the love which he is sure to retain. 
Having obtained position as a mere incident to duty, 
he justly estimates the conditions of permanent suc- 
cess. Believing that a true man has always at hand 
all legitimate material, he scorns to corduroy his path 
to eminence with the bodies of competitors. 

"As a speaker he is ready, seldom hesitating to 
replace a word, or failing to touch the quick of a 
question, never employing any thing for stage effect; 
but straightforward, direct, and often exquisitely ele- 
gant in image and diction, he is, in the genuine sense, 
eloquent. His every speech is a success, and though 
one often wonders how he will extricate himself in 
the varied and often untimely calls made upon his 
treasury, he always closes with added wealth of grati- 
fied admirers. If George Canning was once the 



41 8 LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

Cicero of the British Senate, Colfax is to-day that of 
the American House." 

The latter is not so high a tribute to Mr. Colfax 
as it might be, for American oratory is now at a very 
low ebb ; and the House of Representatives has not 
now a single orator of any real eminence. Mr. Col- 
fax is, however, a fluent, pleasant speaker, whose lec- 
ture on his overland journey was every-where re- 
ceived with applause. 

When the labors of the Thirty-Ninth Congress 
were over — the most remarkable Congress that ever 
assembled — Mr. Colfax returned to his home in Indi- 
ana, to endure the home-test — the most severe of all. 
A writer, describing it, says: 

" On last Wednesday, August I, 1866, Hon. Schuy- 
ler Colfax reached his home at South Bend, Indiana, 
where he was greeted in good, old-fashioned Hoosier 
style by earnest, loyal political and personal friends. 
These, with heart-felt unanimity, seemed to share 
a common spirit of enthusiasm. When the morn- 
ing train reached Laporte and South Bend, crowds 
were in waiting. At the depot of the latter place 
were old patriarchs who knew ' our boy Schuy- 
ler/ middle-aged men whom he had gracefully dis- 
tanced in the race of life, and wondering children, 
to whom this was a holiday, attending carriages, 
wagons, nondescript vehicles of all sorts, flags, ban- 
ners, and bands playing ' Home, Sweet Home,' all in 
waiting to honor the return of a distinguished yet 
simple-hearted citizen. Descending from the railway 
platform, Mr. Colfax was almost literally carried by 
the arms to an adjoining rostrum, where, in intense 



COMPETITORS FOR VICE-PRESIDENCY. 419 

silence, the formal yet sincere and touching welcome 
was pronounced by Judge Wade, formerly Colonel 
of the Seventy-Third Indiana Infantry, who, during 
the war, was by Mr. Colfax delivered from actual 
squalid horrors and impending death in Libby Prison. 

" For once in our life, amid all this unostentatious, 

is excitement of that pure inland town, we 

overed a prophet having honor and enjoying love 

•in his own country.' We would rather have that 

honor and love than the Speakership. Twice happy 

the man who enjoys both at the hands of the Amer- 

1 Republic !" 

The fact is, Mr, Colfax is a representative Ameri- 
1 man — a genuine American, and a Christian — 
thoroughly acquainted with the country — kind, urbane, 
and courteous. With these personal qualities, he has 
a large experience in public affairs, and with the rules 
and usages of business; a sort of knowledge which 
. even of our ablest men, have, but which is inval- 
uable in the public service. 

Such is the man whom the Republican Convention 

» nominated as Vice-President of the United 

It was not for want of able and honorable 

rs that Mr. Colfax was selected. Mr. Wade, 

iident of the Senate, distinguished for long and 

useful public service ; Mr. Hamlin, who was Vice- 

] sident in Mr. Lincoln's term; Mr. Fenton, the 

able and honored Governor of New York; Mr. Wil- 

Bon, Senator from Massachusetts; and others, scarcely 

known and valued, were his competitors; yet, 

the fifth ballot, Schuyler Colfax was nominated, 



420 LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

and his nomination has been received by the country 
with such universal pleasure that there can be no 
doubt that it was emphatically a nomination jit to 
be made. If such a man can not be elected, when 
such a man as Andrew Johnson has been, it may be 
taken as strong evidence that our elections are no 
test of either virtue, talent, or fitness. 

When the Chicago Convention had nominated 
Grant and Colfax, that assembly had done all which 
it was possible to do to present the country with 
men fit, by virtues, abilities, and public services, 
to conduct its public affairs to honorable and suc- 
cessful issues. It remained only to declare their 
views and principles as to what measures the country 
should adopt. This it did, in the most explicit man- 
ner. It declared for the unity of the country on the 
reconstruction acts of Congress ; for the sacredness 
of the public debt ; for the equality of all men be- 
fore the law ; for the utmost economy in the public 
finances ; for the freedom of citizenship to all na- 
tions ; and for the pardon and forgiveness of all re- 
cent enemies, when that act becomes safe and prac- 
ticable. Was there ever a declaration of principles 
more explicit or better adapted to the circumstances 
of the country ? It is clear, explicit, and patriotic. 

Upon the President of the Convention, General 
Hawley, and a Committee with him, devolved the 
duty of notifying General Grant and Mr. Colfax of 
their nomination. This was officially done at Wash- 
ington City. They made written replies, which I add 
here, that the reader may see the positions of the 
candidates in reference to the platform adopted. 



LETTER OF A CCEPTANCE. 42 r 

The following is General Grant's reply to the 
nomination of the Chicago Convention : 

« t- ^ 7 ~ , ~ " Washin GTON, D. C, May 29, ,868. 

To General Joseph R. Hawley, 

" President National Union Republican Convention : 
"In formally accepting the nomination of the National Union 
Republican Convention of the 2ist inst, it seems proper that some 
statement of views beyond the mere acceptance of the nomination 
should be expressed. The proceedings of the Convention were 
marked with wisdom, moderation, and patriotism, and, I believe, ex- 
press the feelings of the great mass of those who sustained the country 
through its recent trials. I indorse their resolutions. If elected to the 
office of President of the United States, it will be my endeavor to ad- 
minister all the laws in good faith, with economy, and with the view of 
giving peace, quiet, and protection every-where. In times like the 
present it is impossible, or at least eminently improper, to lay down a 
policy to be adhered to, right or wrong, through an administration of 
four years. New political issues, not foreseen, are constantly arising, 
the views of the public on old ones are constantly changing, and a 
purely administrative officer should always be left free to execute the 
will of the people. I always have respected that will, and always shall. 
Peace and universal prosperity— its sequence— with economy of admin- 
istration, will lighten the burden of taxation, while it constantly reduces 
the National debt. Let us have peace. 

" With great respect, your obedient servant, U. S. Grant." 

Mr. Colfax replied at much greater length. 

The following is the reply of Speaker Colfax to 
the Committee announcing his nomination by the 
Chicago Convention : 

"Washington, D. C, May 30, 1868. 
"Hon. J. R. Hawley, 

"President of the National Union Republican Convention: 

"Dear Sir,— The platform adopted by the patriotic Convention 
over which you presided, and the resolutions which so happily supple- 
ment it, so entirely agree with my views as to a just National policy, 
that my thanks are due to the delegates as much for this clear and aus- 
picious declaration of principles as for the nomination with which I 
have been honored, and which I gratefully accept. When a great 
rebellion, which imperiled the National existence, was at last over- 
thrown, the duty of all others, devolving on those intrusted with the 



422 LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

responsibilities of legislation, evidently was to require, that the revolted 
States should be readmitted to participation in the Government against 
which they had erred only on such a basis as to increase and fortify, 
not to weaken or endanger, the strength and power of the nation. 
Certainly no one ought to have claimed that they should be readmitted 
under such rule that their organization as States could ever again be 
used as at the opening of the war, to defy the National authority or to 
destroy the National unity. This principle has been the pole-star of 
those who have inflexibly insisted on the Congressional policy your 
Convention so cordially indorsed. Baffled by Executive opposition, 
and by persistent refusals to accept any plan of reconstruction proffered 
by Congress, justice and public safety at last combined to teach us that 
only by an enlargement of suffrage in those States could the desired 
end be attained, and that it was even more safe to give the ballot to 
those who loved the Union than to those who had sought ineffectually 
to destroy it. The assured success of this legislation is being written 
on the adamant of history, and will be our triumphant vindication. 
More clearly so than ever before does the nation now recognize that 
the greatest glory of a Republic is, that it throws the shield of its pro- 
tection over the humblest and weakest of its people, and vindicates the 
rights of the poor and the powerless as faithfully as those of the rich 
and the powerful. I rejoice, too, in this connection, to find in your 
platform the frank and fearless avowal that naturalized citizens must be 
protected abroad at every hazard, as though they were native born. 
Our whole people are foreigners, or descendants of foreigners ; our 
fathers established by arms their right to be called a nation. It remains 
for us to establish the right to welcome to our shores all who are will- 
ing, by oaths of allegiance, to become American citizens. Perpetual 
allegiance, as claimed abroad, is only another name for perpetual bond- 
age, and would make all slaves to the soil where first they saw the light. 
Our National cemeteries prove how faithfully these oaths of fidelity to 
their adopted land have been sealed in the life-blood of thousands upon 
thousands. Should we not then be faithless to the dead if we did not 
protect their living brethren in the full enjoyment of that Nationality 
for which, side by side with the native born, our soldiers of foreign birth 
laid down their lives ? It was fitting, too, that the representatives of a 
party which had proved so true to National duty in time of war, should 
speak so clearly in time of peace, for the maintenance untarnished of 
the National honor, National credit, and good faith as regards its debt, 
the cost of our National existence. I do not need to extend this reply 
by further comment on a platform which has elicited such hearty ap- 
proval throughout the land. The debt of gratitude it acknowledges to 
the brave men who saved the Union from destruction, the frank ap- 
proval of amnesty, based on repentance and loyalty, the demand for the 
most thorough economy and honesty in the Government, the sympathy 



LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 433 

of the party of liberty with all throughout the world who long for the 
liberty we here enjoy, and the recognition of our sublime principles 
of the Declaration of Independence, are worthy of the organization 
on whose banners they are to be written in the coming contest Its 
past record can not be blotted out or forgotten. If there had been 
no Republican party, slavery would to-day cast its baleful shadow 
over the Republic. If there had been no Republican party, a free 
press and free speech would be as unknown from the Potomac to 
the Rio Grande as ten years ago. If the Republican party could 
have been stricken from existence when the banner of rebellion was 
unfurled, and when the response of 'no coercion' was heard at the 
North, we would have had no nation to-day. But for the Repub- 
lican party, daring to risk the odium of tax and draft laws, our flag 
could not have been kept flying in the field till the long-hoped-for vie- 
tory came. Without a Republican party the Civil Rights bill— the 
guarantee of equality under the law to the humble and the defenseless, 
as well as to the strong— would not be to-day upon our National stat- 
ute book. With such inspiration from the past, and following the 
example of the founders of the Republic, who called the victorious 
General of the Revolution to preside over the land his triumphs had 
saved from its enemies, I can not doubt that our labors will be crowned 
with success; and it will be a success that shall bring restored hope, 
confidence, prosperity, and progress, South as well as North, West as 
well as East, and, above all, the blessings, under Providence, of Na- 
tional concord and peace. Very truly yours, 

"Schuyler Colfax." 

These letters close the proceedings by which 
Grant and Colfax have been placed before the 
American people as candidates for the chief offices 
within their gift — offices unsurpassed in their dig- 
nity, magnitude, and responsibility by any in the 
world. In the pages of this volume may be found 
every act, principle, and purpose by which the intel- 
ligent voter may judge of their fitness for these 
august offices. Here is Colfax, exhibited to the open 
gaze, from the little boy in New York to the Speaker 
of the House of Representatives. There is nothing 
concealed ; nothing doubtful. Here we may trace 
the career of Grant, from his birth on the Ohio to 



424 LIFE OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

West Point; from West Point to Mexico; from 
Mexico to Galena; and from Galena to Belmont and 
Donclson ; to Shiloh and Vicksburg ; to Chattanooga 
and Richmond— a life of activity and industry; of 
straightforward honesty and of devotion to country ; 
of great good sense, and of remarkable success. 
Such was Grant, and, as I close this book, it may be 
well to note on its last pages what Grant has explic- 
itly declared in his brief, but meaning and suggestive 
letter. 

i. Grant indorses the resolutions of the Conven- 
tion, and considers its proceedings wise, moderate, 
and patriotic. 

2. If elected, he will endeavor to execute all lazvs 
in good faith, with economy, and with a view of 
giving peace to the country. 

3. He will execute the will of the people, which he 
will always respect. 

In the present condition of the country, these 
principles cover the whole ground. What is a Presi- 
dent? By the Constitution, an Executive officer. 
What is the duty of an Executive officer? Simply 
and only to execute the laws. It is the attempt to 
do something else than to execute the laws and obey 
the will of the people which has brought on the 
conflict between the President and Congress. The 
country wants peace, and it wants to reduce the 
power of the President within the limits of the law 
and the popular will. If this is not done, the Presi- 
dency will ultimately become a monarchy. The 
great principle to be settled now is, that the people, 
the whole people, equal before the law, shall govern 



CONCLUSION. 425 

according to their own laws, and that the President 
shall be the mere executor of their will. To this 
principle Grant promptly and honestly accedes. \( 
the people do not sustain the great principle of popu- 
lar government on which he stands, the Presidency 
becomes a monarchy; for such has been the end of 
all Republics yet established in the world. Have we 
virtue enough to resist the corruptions which have 
overthrown other governments, and established mon- 
archies on the ruins of republics ? 



THE END 






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